Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives “Underperform” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on META. Robert W. Baird cut 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, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of META opened at $504.68 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $456.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total transaction of $8,600,861.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 213,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,086 shares of company stock worth $106,423,370 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. 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.