Meta Platforms’ (META) Underperform Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of META opened at $567.16 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $555.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $513.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $308.33 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,639,184.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,639,184.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors 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.