TD Securities Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $700.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at TD Securities from $725.00 to $700.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. TD Securities’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.25% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.02 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $575.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.54, for a total value of $337,768.32. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,109,940.92. This trade represents a 13.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.