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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by Oppenheimer from $665.00 to $775.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.03% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $706.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $15.67 during trading on Monday, hitting $698.02. 7,940,072 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,496,929. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $604.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $619.96. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,593 shares of company stock valued at $56,008,477. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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