Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $480.00 by Analysts at Wedbush

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by Wedbush from $570.00 to $480.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2024 earnings at $4.43 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $4.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $437.35. 18,127,395 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $495.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $403.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Members Trust Co bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $267,000. Legacy Bridge LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the first quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 891 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 230.6% during the first quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 161,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $78,421,000 after acquiring an additional 112,652 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 8,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,090,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 49,537 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,121,000 after purchasing an additional 13,893 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.