Meta Platforms' (META) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has reaffirmed an "overweight" rating for Meta Platforms (META), with a price target of $920.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.94% from the stock's previous close.
• Meta reported earnings of $7.14 per share, surpassing estimates and demonstrating a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth to $47.52 billion.
• Meta is rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with a consensus target price of $822.41, while the stock has seen significant insider selling recently, including transactions by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew Bosworth.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $920.00 price target on the social networking company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price objective points to a potential upside of 17.94% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $780.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $720.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $653.97. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $795.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 292,211 shares of company stock valued at $215,232,155. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DecisionPoint Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the second quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $101,000. Sentinus LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the second quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the second quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 577 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 21.7% during the second quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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