Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Hsbc Global Res from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.
Several other research analysts have also commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $828.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. TD Securities cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $815.09.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Meta Platforms stock traded down $23.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $750.01. The stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $450.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $701.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $645.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This trade represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
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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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