Wed Jan 29 21:40:00 UTC 2025: **Meta Stock Dips Despite Positive Analyst Ratings**
**Sioux Falls, SD – February 2, 2024** – Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) shares experienced a slight decline of 0.4% in midday trading on Wednesday, closing at $671.73. Trading volume was significantly lower than average, at 4,726,860 shares compared to the average daily volume of 14,015,645.
Despite the dip, several research firms maintain a positive outlook on META. Recent reports from Pivotal Research, Jefferies Financial Group, Susquehanna, and Truist Financial all raised their price targets, with ratings ranging from “buy” to “positive.” However, HSBC Global Research downgraded META to a “hold” rating. Overall, analyst sentiment remains largely positive, with 35 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and 2 strong buy ratings, resulting in a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average price target of $655.41.
Meta’s Q3 earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $6.03 EPS against analyst estimates of $5.19. Revenue also surpassed projections at $40.59 billion. The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.
Recent insider trading activity saw CEO Mark Zuckerberg sell 35,921 shares and COO Javier Olivan sell 413 shares. Over the last three months, insiders sold a total of 602,612 shares. Institutional investors hold 79.91% of META’s stock. Several smaller investment firms also acquired new stakes in the company during the last quarter.
Meta’s financial health appears sound, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18 and strong current and quick ratios of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion.
First Piper 