Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $610.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $775.00 to $610.00 in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target indicates a potential upside of 12.22% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on META. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $701.38.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $543.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $628.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $609.11.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total transaction of $250,596.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,688 shares in the company, valued at $10,125,777.76. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.69, for a total value of $21,721,069.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the last quarter. 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.