Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from $810.00 to $725.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.71% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $576.74 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $655.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $609.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $625,000. Finally, Avala Global LP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 53.5% in the third quarter. Avala Global LP now owns 47,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,420,000 after acquiring an additional 16,700 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.