Royal Bank of Canada Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $570.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $600.00 to $570.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 30.35% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $56.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $437.29. 64,554,697 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,965,529. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $208.88 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $495.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $403.14. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.