Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $640.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $705.00 to $640.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on META. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.21 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $576.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.54. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $432.28 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,449 shares in the company, valued at $10,443,524. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.