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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $628.00 to $655.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price target points to a potential upside of 19.31% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on META. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $692.37.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.00 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $578.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $603.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,390 shares in the company, valued at $19,936,593.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $146,918,094.69. This represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,071 shares of company stock worth $175,741,082 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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