Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $676.00 Price Target at Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from $624.00 to $676.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the social networking company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's target price indicates a potential upside of 17.29% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on META. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $690.02.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 5.0 %

NASDAQ META traded up $27.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $576.37. The stock had a trading volume of 21,901,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,712,445. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $432.28 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $578.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.54, for a total value of $337,768.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,109,940.92. This represents a 13.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $146,918,094.69. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,071 shares of company stock worth $175,741,082 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

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