DA Davidson Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $650.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by DA Davidson from $800.00 to $650.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $692.93.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $531.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $624.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,943,062.60. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 450,214 shares of company stock valued at $304,162,130. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.