Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Now Covered by Analysts at Pivotal Research

Equities researchers at Pivotal Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Pivotal Research’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 36.17% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $598.08.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $572.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $521.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $501.35. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $583.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.00, for a total transaction of $210,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,479,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 308,462 shares of company stock worth $162,308,065. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $595,152,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $406,316,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.