Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $730.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Wolfe Research from $670.00 to $730.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 21.82% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.88.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

META opened at $599.24 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $589.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $548.19. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $343.17 and a one year high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,116 shares of company stock valued at $198,171,544 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.