Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $575.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at UBS Group from $610.00 to $575.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 32.68% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 12.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $60.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $433.38. The stock had a trading volume of 43,803,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,654,738. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $495.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $403.14. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $208.88 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.