BMO Capital Markets Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $530.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $525.00 to $530.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective points to a potential downside of 6.55% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on META. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $567.16 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $308.33 and a 52 week high of $602.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $513.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 36.26%. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,993 shares of company stock worth $133,271,982. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.