Cantor Fitzgerald Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has raised its price target for Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00, projecting a potential upside of 17.87% from the stock's previous close.
• Meta reported $7.14 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $1.39, with revenue reaching $47.52 billion and a year-over-year increase of 21.6%.
• Insider transactions showed significant sales, with CTO Andrew Bosworth and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reducing their holdings, indicating potential concerns about stock performance despite positive earnings.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price target increased by Cantor Fitzgerald from $828.00 to $920.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company's stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $16.80 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $756.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,407,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,560,782. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $699.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $644.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,755,013.36. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 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.