Loop Capital Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $888.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Loop Capital from $695.00 to $888.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Loop Capital's price target would indicate a potential upside of 41.47% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Susquehanna cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ META traded down $16.20 on Friday, reaching $627.68. The company had a trading volume of 5,900,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,494,303. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day moving average is $570.68 and its 200 day moving average is $606.39. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 81,171 shares of company stock worth $55,161,016. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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