Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates Overweight Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $660.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $597.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $576.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $519.65 and its 200-day moving average is $500.85. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $583.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $235,410.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,044,630. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $235,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,359 shares in the company, valued at $7,044,630. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 308,462 shares of company stock valued at $162,308,065 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Rollins Financial increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 30,657 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,851,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares in the last quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $533,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 31,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,307,000 after acquiring an additional 4,612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.