Oppenheimer Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $500.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target trimmed by Oppenheimer from $585.00 to $500.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $229.85 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average of $404.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.