Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $540.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $585.00 to $540.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $4.03 on Thursday, hitting $437.35. 18,127,395 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $403.40. The company has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Members Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $267,000. Legacy Bridge LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the first quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 891 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing 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% during the 1st quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 161,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,421,000 after buying an additional 112,652 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 8,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,090,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 39.0% during 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.