Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $630.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Barclays from $550.00 to $630.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.76% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $629.39.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0 %

Meta Platforms stock traded down $17.84 during trading on Thursday, reaching $573.96. 10,632,016 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,083,925. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $296.86 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $554.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $512.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,818 shares of company stock valued at $132,569,993. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 1,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $919,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,724.9% in the 1st quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,856,000 after buying an additional 9,646 shares during the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the first quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 663 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 28.0% in the first quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 480 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.