Truist Financial Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $875.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by Truist Financial from $900.00 to $875.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on META. DA Davidson raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.7%

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 company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $738.28 and a 200-day moving average of $697.96. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,900,268. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted 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 worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 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.