Meta Platforms’ (META) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Rosenblatt Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $886.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.25% from the stock’s previous close.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $860.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $796.12.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.4%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $742.96 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $779.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $644.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $621.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%. The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 27.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This trade represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,222 shares of company stock worth $101,033,627. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 723.1% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,957,946,000 after purchasing an additional 7,732,446 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,948,486,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,841,811,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510,123 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta introduced Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, its first “frontier” AI models, claiming performance comparable with leading offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic. The models are intended to improve Meta’s AI assistant and support complex, multistep tasks. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party app data reportedly showed Muse’s early retention rates rivaling ChatGPT, easing concerns about user adoption and helping drive the stock higher. Meta is also testing a monetization model with $20 and $100 monthly subscription tiers. Why Meta Stock Is Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive: KeyCorp reaffirmed an overweight rating with a $900 target, while Rosenblatt reiterated buy with an $886 target. Truist also believes Meta may have further upside following the Muse announcement. Barron’s Meta Stock Analysis

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company operates a global family of apps that includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, enabling users to connect, communicate, share content and discover communities.

Meta generates most of its business through digital advertising displayed across its platforms. Its products serve individuals, creators, businesses and organizations in markets around the world, while its advertising tools help businesses reach audiences based on factors such as interests, activity and demographics.

Through its Reality Labs division, Meta develops virtual and augmented reality hardware, software and services, including the Meta Quest line of headsets and related experiences.