Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $500.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price dropped by Oppenheimer from $585.00 to $500.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.32% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. 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. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

META opened at $493.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $495.93 and its 200 day moving average is $403.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signify Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 52.5% in the first quarter. Signify Wealth now owns 982 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $252,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.4% during the first quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares during the period. Kercheville Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the first quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 14,035 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,815,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Argus Investors Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the first quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 5,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.