Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Loop Capital cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.22 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $480.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.62. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,737,915.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 201,557 shares of company stock valued at $97,894,296 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 11,033 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,579,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $506,000. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 57,612 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.