Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 1.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $575.00 to $555.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as low as $473.40 and last traded at $475.44. 6,905,431 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 17,017,107 shares. The stock had previously closed at $481.07.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target 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. One equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The sale 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 Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total transaction of $7,769,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IRON Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 91.7% during the 1st quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,971 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Bell Bank now owns 9,672 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,697,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $211,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $359,000. Finally, Lunt Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $243,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $495.52 and its 200 day moving average is $402.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.