Pivotal Research Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $830.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by analysts at Pivotal Research from $875.00 to $830.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Pivotal Research's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 51.18% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $683.78.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $549.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $427.11 and a 52 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $578.42 and a 200-day moving average of $603.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,936,593.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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. Insiders sold a total of 249,071 shares of company stock valued at $175,741,082 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 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.

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