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

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

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

META stock opened at $481.73 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. 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 has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $494.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $401.23.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock valued at $666,288,408 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is 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.