Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Lowered to $525.00 at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Raymond James from $550.00 to $525.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “strong-buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $57.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $435.71. 54,896,202 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,842,018. The company has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $208.88 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $495.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $403.14. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’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 $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 over the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.