Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $880.00 to $840.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 29.56% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $738.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $696.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total value of $12,192,364.86. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.