Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $605.00 at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $530.00 to $605.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 6.63% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $660.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $567.36 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $577.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $499.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 186,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,113,116.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total transaction of $453,015.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,944,071.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,113,116.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 342,358 shares of company stock worth $179,431,101. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. 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.