Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Rating Reiterated by Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $660.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.16% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

META stock opened at $563.33 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $508.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $497.64. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $573.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $231,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,152,320. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $231,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,152,320. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 349,472 shares of company stock worth $182,544,600. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in 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 buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $595,152,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.