Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Underperform Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $626.39.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $583.69 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $296.86 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $554.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $512.18. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 250,818 shares of company stock worth $132,569,993 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the first quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 1,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,724.9% in the first quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,856,000 after acquiring an additional 9,646 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the first quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 663 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.0% in the first quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.