Cantor Fitzgerald Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $830.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target trimmed by Cantor Fitzgerald from $920.00 to $830.00 in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $811.00 to $837.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $738.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $697.96.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total transaction of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares in the company, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total transaction of $387,527.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,958 shares in the company, valued at $5,965,078.06. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. 1776 Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the first quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the first quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is 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.