Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $725.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at Raymond James from $675.00 to $725.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “strong-buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price indicates a potential upside of 16.28% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on META. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of META opened at $623.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $598.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $558.76. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $382.08 and a one year high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 3,471 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,260 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,783 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 10,990 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,435,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.