Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $540.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $585.00 to $540.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Benchmark restated a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms 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. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. 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 has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $405.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were 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 is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759 over the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.