Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on the stock from $610.00 to $575.00. The stock had previously closed at $493.50, but opened at $421.40. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms shares last traded at $443.43, with a volume of 32,298,811 shares traded.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $513.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 over the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 10.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $495.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.