TD Securities Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by TD Securities from $725.00 to $700.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. TD Securities currently has a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on META. Roth Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $599.27. 13,856,160 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,453,485. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $575.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $603.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current 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 results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 223,629 shares of company stock worth $157,894,751. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,381,312 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $796,133,000 after buying an additional 166,789 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 3,205 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,847,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Bingham Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the first quarter. Bingham Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,134,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,951 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.