Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 2.3% After Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares fell 2.3% on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $810.00 to $725.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as low as $553.30 and last traded at $563.21. 7,151,227 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 14,214,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $576.74.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,662,000. Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $497,000. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,235,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,987,000. Finally, Prostatis Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $655.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $609.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.