Sanford C. Bernstein Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $900.00

Key Points

• Sanford C. Bernstein raised Meta Platforms’ price target from $775.00 to $900.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.24% based on its current stock price.
• Other analysts have also increased their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Moffett Nathanson setting a new target of $605.00 and Pivotal Research at $930.00, both maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Meta Platforms reported strong earnings, with a Q2 earnings per share of $7.14 that exceeded estimates, contributing to a revenue of $47.52 billion, up 21.6% year-over-year.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Sanford C. Bernstein from $775.00 to $900.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the social networking company's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $812.00 price objective (up previously from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of META stock traded down $23.43 on Thursday, hitting $750.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,985,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,087,110. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $701.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $645.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.