Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $480.00 at Wedbush

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price reduced by Wedbush from $570.00 to $480.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2024 earnings at $4.43 EPS.

Several other research firms have also commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $4.03 on Thursday, hitting $437.35. 18,127,395 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $495.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $403.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.