Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Underperform” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating restated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $494.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $404.27. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $229.85 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. 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 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.