Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $800.00 Price Target at Benchmark

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Benchmark from $640.00 to $800.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Benchmark's price objective points to a potential upside of 13.51% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on META. KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of META opened at $704.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $686.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $638.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total transaction of $370,947.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,892,632.50. This trade represents a 7.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,437 shares of company stock valued at $105,068,570. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 15 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.