Barclays Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $770.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $810.00 to $770.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $648.35 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $738.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $697.96. 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 has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 237,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 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.