Meta Platforms' (META) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $740.00 price target on the social networking company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's target price suggests a potential upside of 27.95% from the company's current price.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. TD Securities lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded up $29.34 on Thursday, hitting $578.34. 24,245,129 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,423,734. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business's fifty day moving average is $578.42 and its 200 day moving average is $603.67.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,071 shares of company stock worth $175,741,082 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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