Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $600.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $725.00 to $600.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 17.54% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $713.07.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $510.45 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $638.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 498,899 shares of company stock worth $333,868,573 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. 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.