Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 4.8% Following Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded down 4.8% on Tuesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $750.00 to $710.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as low as $575.79 and last traded at $575.84. 7,147,493 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 13,591,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $604.90.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $656.80 and its 200-day moving average is $604.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

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.