Susquehanna Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by Susquehanna from $675.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Susquehanna’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.08% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on META. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $689.18 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $613.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $565.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $387.10 and a 1-year high of $710.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.