Monness Crespi & Hardt Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Key Points

• Analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt have raised their price target for Meta Platforms stock from $780 to $860, indicating a potential upside of 23.70% from its current price, with a continued "buy" rating.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 per share for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analysts' expectations of $5.75, with revenues of $47.52 billion, marking a 21.6% year-over-year increase.
• Insiders, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have sold substantial shares recently, revealing a total of 152,461 shares sold over the last quarter worth over $105 million.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $780.00 to $860.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt's price objective suggests a potential upside of 13.48% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on META. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $735.00 to $795.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0%

META traded down $15.63 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $757.81. 4,695,266 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,549,814. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year 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 quick ratio of 2.66, a current 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, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total value of $373,607.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,392,423. The trade was a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.