Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms "Overweight" Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has reiterated its "overweight" rating for Meta Platforms with a price target of $920.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.09% from the stock's last close.
• Meta reported $7.14 earnings per share for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analysts' expectations of $5.75, and achieved a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth to $47.52 billion.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg selling 15,847 shares valued at approximately $11.94 million recently.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $920.00 target price on the social networking company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's target price points to a potential upside of 19.09% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on META. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $6.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $772.54. 1,722,859 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,636,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $743.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $663.34. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 256,921 shares of company stock valued at $195,620,990 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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