Loop Capital Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $695.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price reduced by Loop Capital from $900.00 to $695.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $549.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $578.42 and its 200 day moving average is $603.67. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $427.11 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,936,593.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,071 shares of company stock valued at $175,741,082 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.