Sanford C. Bernstein Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $700.00 to $775.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Sanford C. Bernstein's price target suggests a potential upside of 7.90% from the company's previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $812.00 target price (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $807.00 to $828.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $3.49 on Tuesday, reaching $718.29. 4,572,652 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,426,654. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $691.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $640.92. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business 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 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

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.