Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price objective (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $509.50 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $480.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $458.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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. The firm 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 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.41, for a total transaction of $211,936.92. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,707,352.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Modus Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 2,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 6,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,138,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 99,932 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $50,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,402 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,304,000 after purchasing an additional 7,943 shares in 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.