The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on META. Roth Mkm restated a buy rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Wedbush raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $494.48 and its 200-day moving average is $404.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Artemis Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $3,156,000. Tenon Financial LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $239,000. Guardian Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $221,000. Treasure Coast Financial Planning acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Finer Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the first quarter. Finer Wealth Management Inc. now owns 13,558 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,583,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.