Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Citigroup from $690.00 to $803.00 in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Citigroup's target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.54% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on META. 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 research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wedbush raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $6.97 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $733.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,967,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,493,627. The business has a fifty day moving average of $633.87 and a 200 day moving average of $625.73. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $46,266,000. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.7% during the first quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,620,086 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,085,387,000 after buying an additional 107,959 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 75,532 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $43,533,000 after acquiring an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 1,832 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.