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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by Guggenheim from $520.00 to $500.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on META. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $4.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $437.35. The stock had a trading volume of 18,127,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,199,652. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $495.08 and its 200 day moving average is $403.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 65,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.50, for a total transaction of $26,272,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.