Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given “Underperform” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

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

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of META opened at $659.88 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $604.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $561.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $663.87.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 603,032 shares of company stock valued at $368,666,614. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $1,559,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 39.4% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 13,445 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,779,000 after buying an additional 3,799 shares during the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $7,115,000. Finally, Invst LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 18.1% in the second quarter. Invst LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the last quarter. 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.