Guggenheim Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective trimmed by Guggenheim from $520.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $545.00 price target (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $494.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $404.85. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.