Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price fell 0.3% during trading on Wednesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $750.00 to $710.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as low as $578.74 and last traded at $580.51. 4,374,584 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 13,607,935 shares. The stock had previously closed at $582.36.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $656.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 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.