Wolfe Research Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from $530.00 to $500.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.32% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $493.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $495.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $403.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. 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.