KeyCorp Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $555.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by KeyCorp from $575.00 to $555.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on META. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $493.50 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $495.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $403.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at $18,853,183.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 in the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 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.