Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $700.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by analysts at Truist Financial from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 12.96% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $636.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $4.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $619.70. 3,447,180 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,677,955. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $584.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $539.38. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $337.02 and a 1-year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $623.50, for a total transaction of $257,505.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,692,495.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 249,018 shares of company stock worth $148,605,500 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $412,606,000 after acquiring an additional 91,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.