Facebook (FB) stock price fell 2.63 percent, or $0.87, to close at $32.23; Facebook’s market value returned to below $70 billion; but the intraday volume was 2857 shares, lower than the daily average of 6893 shares.
Facebook will see its 40-day quiet period ending June 27. Eight investment banks gave a rating of “buy” or equivalent; nine investment banks gave a rating of “hold” or equivalent, an investment bank gave a rating of “underperform”. Wall Street analysts previously on average expected Facebook would deliver an earnings per share of 12 cents on revenue of $1.16 billion for the second quarte . The current estimates of Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Topeka Capital Markets Facebook are lower than the previous expectation for the second quarter. The underwriters also had lowered the expectations on earnings before the Facebook IPO.
Analysts generally set Facebook stock price target between $34-$45; Credit Suisse set the target at $34; Morgan Stanley and Arcstone Equity Research set the two highest target at $52 and $66, respectively.