Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $530.00 to $610.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target points to a potential downside of 11.77% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $698.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of META stock traded up $14.90 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $691.39. The company had a trading volume of 19,926,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,151,370. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $608.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $563.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve month high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 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.