Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $700.00 by Analysts at Truist Financial

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target lowered by Truist Financial from $770.00 to $700.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the social networking company's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $16.82 during trading on Thursday, hitting $484.66. The stock had a trading volume of 8,203,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,762,309. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company's 50-day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $607.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company'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 $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

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

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.