Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $500.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $555.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 1.32% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on META. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $493.50 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $495.93 and its 200-day moving average is $403.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total transaction of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total transaction of $7,769,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 68,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 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.