Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Underperform” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $679.02.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $547.27 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $587.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.44. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,954,832.58. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 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.