Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $500.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by Oppenheimer from $585.00 to $500.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on META. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 10.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $441.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $208.88 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $495.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $403.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 65,600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.50, for a total transaction of $26,272,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Members Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $267,000. Legacy Bridge LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the first quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 891 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 230.6% in the first quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 161,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,421,000 after acquiring an additional 112,652 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 8,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,090,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.0% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 49,537 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,121,000 after acquiring an additional 13,893 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.