Bank of America Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $640.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target reduced by Bank of America from $765.00 to $640.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on META. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $704.62.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $546.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $631.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $609.28.

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $15,943,062.60. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 487,453 shares of company stock valued at $326,680,904 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.9% in the third quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 13,570 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,768,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

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.