Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. 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, October 30th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $830.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $637.71 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $735.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $700.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,900,268. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 121,456 shares of company stock worth $93,504,754 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,587,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.