Research analysts at BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an "underperform" rating and a $360.00 price target on the social networking company's stock. BNP Paribas' price objective would suggest a potential downside of 18.49% from the company's current price.
Several other research firms have also issued reports on META. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $509.80.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of META stock traded up $2.49 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $441.68. The stock had a trading volume of 14,701,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,414,781. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $492.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $407.19.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.1 EPS for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $15,853,952. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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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