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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by analysts at Citigroup from $780.00 to $655.00 in a report released on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.94% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $698.40.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $546.13 on Monday. 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 $628.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.40. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 451,119 shares of company stock worth $304,709,239. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.