Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by research analysts at UBS Group from $812.00 to $897.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. UBS Group's target price points to a potential upside of 18.55% from the stock's current price.
Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "outperform" 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META stock traded down $16.80 during trading on Thursday, reaching $756.64. The stock had a trading volume of 6,407,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,560,782. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The stock's 50 day moving average is $699.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $644.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm 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 firm earned $5.16 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 118,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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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