Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Now Covered by Analysts at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $360.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $451.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $490.72 and a 200-day moving average of $409.58. The company has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Howland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.0% in the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 89,395 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $43,408,000 after acquiring an additional 16,137 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 370.0% during the first quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,457 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,070,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the first quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 5,066 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.