Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $675.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $600.00 to $675.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.75% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $563.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $509.61. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares in the company, valued at $6,456,828. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 249,912 shares of company stock valued at $132,027,612. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the third quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in 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.