Raymond James Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $525.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target reduced by Raymond James from $550.00 to $525.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy 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-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

META stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $404.85. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.