Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $550.00 at Citigroup

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by Citigroup from $590.00 to $550.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.61% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $52.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $441.38. The stock had a trading volume of 82,642,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,210,709. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $495.93 and its 200 day moving average is $403.14. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $208.88 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.