Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $770.00 to $700.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 39.59% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $501.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $606.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolf Group Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,181,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,779 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Bender Robert & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% in the first quarter. Bender Robert & Associates now owns 38,699 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $22,305,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the first quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,672 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,727,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Clarius Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the first quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 18,002 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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.