Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $600.00 to $660.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.77% from the company’s current price.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $9.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $606.78. 6,767,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,382,023. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $593.63 and its 200-day moving average is $553.55.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.