Meta Platforms' (META) Market Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at JMP Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market outperform" rating reiterated by investment analysts at JMP Securities in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $750.00 target price on the social networking company's stock. JMP Securities' target price points to a potential upside of 39.03% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Bank of America cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of META traded down $15.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $539.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,921,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,388,375. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $427.11 and a 1 year 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. The company has a market cap of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $581.11 and a 200 day moving average of $604.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 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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