Royal Bank of Canada Trims Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Target Price to $570.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $600.00 to $570.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $404.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. S.A. Mason LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.