Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $850.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $915.00 to $850.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $880.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 11.3%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $666.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $740.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $695.92.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.69% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.