Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $800.00 at Citizens Jmp

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target cut by Citizens Jmp from $825.00 to $800.00 in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a market outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Benchmark started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Susquehanna raised Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $838.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $37.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $669.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,552,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,389,378. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $598.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $627.10.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,748 shares of company stock worth $27,565,292. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GoalFusion Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. GoalFusion Wealth Management LLC now owns 929 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.6% in the second quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,164 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 19.8% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 3,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the second quarter. Northside Capital Management LLC now owns 23,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,073,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.4% in the second quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 7,505 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,227,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s latest AI push is drawing bullish attention, including the launch of Muse Spark 1.1, expanded developer access through its Model API, and reports that the company plans to start producing an in-house AI chip in September. Investors are betting these moves could lower compute costs, reduce reliance on Nvidia and AMD, and open new revenue streams beyond advertising. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is also benefiting from optimism around its cloud and AI infrastructure ambitions, including a new C$13 billion data center in Alberta and commentary that the company may be building a stronger long-term “AI revenue stack” than the market currently prices in. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and commentators are still constructive on META, with bullish notes saying the stock looks attractively valued relative to its AI growth potential and that recent weakness created an opportunity for long-term investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Citizens JMP trimmed its price target to $800 from $825 while maintaining an outperform rating, suggesting continued upside but a slightly more cautious near-term view on valuation and spending. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta faces renewed regulatory risk after the European Union said Facebook and Instagram may violate the Digital Services Act with “addictive” design features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and push notifications, potentially exposing the company to fines and product changes. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reporting also highlighted investor concern that Meta’s aggressive AI capex could pressure margins if monetization takes longer than expected, even though the market is currently rewarding the strategy. Article Title

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.