Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $480.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price dropped by Wedbush from $570.00 to $480.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target points to a potential downside of 2.74% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $518.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $493.50 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $495.93 and a 200-day moving average of $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Bank of Stockton boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 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.