Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $875.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $900.00 to $875.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $738.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $697.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total transaction of $12,192,364.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. The trade was a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 137.2% in the first quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 1,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,889,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the first quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 3,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.