Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Rating Increased to Hold at Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8%

META stock opened at $713.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $651.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total transaction of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,766 shares of company stock worth $105,135,650 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 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.