KeyCorp Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $555.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by KeyCorp from $575.00 to $555.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm restated a buy rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $481.73. 17,232,840 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,160,061. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $494.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $399.98. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,392,501 shares of company stock valued at $666,506,318. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. 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.