TD Cowen Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $530.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by TD Cowen from $590.00 to $530.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $494.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $404.85. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,747 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,226,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 28.0% in the third quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 21.7% in the third quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.3% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 7,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richelieu Gestion SA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 29.1% in the third quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA now owns 2,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.