Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Wedbush from $770.00 to $680.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential upside of 30.91% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $690.79.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:META traded down $12.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $519.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,125,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,761,074. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $624.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $609.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,057,950. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 450,214 shares of company stock worth $304,162,130. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.