Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns “Underperform” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of META stock opened at $511.76 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $544.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $505.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $493.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at $269,449,230. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at $269,449,230. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 392,082 shares of company stock worth $202,909,089. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after buying an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares in the last quarter. Voyager Global Management LP raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 400.0% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.