Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $695.00 by Analysts at Loop Capital

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target cut by Loop Capital from $900.00 to $695.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $5.44 on Monday, reaching $549.00. 27,728,501 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,382,210. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $581.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock worth $175,403,314. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.