Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $550.00 at Citigroup

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Citigroup from $590.00 to $550.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.07% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average is $404.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 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.