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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $780.00 to $655.00 in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on META. 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. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $692.93.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $531.48 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $624.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $255,234.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at $10,057,950. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 450,214 shares of company stock valued at $304,162,130 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.