Benchmark Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by Benchmark from $820.00 to $640.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ META opened at $533.15 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $590.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $604.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.