Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $480.00 by Analysts at Wedbush

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

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average of $404.85. 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 PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were 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 owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 in the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,747 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,226,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 7,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the period. Finally, Richelieu Gestion SA increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA now owns 2,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.