Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. TD Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $516.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $493.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total transaction of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares in the company, valued at $151,697,700.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total transaction of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 301,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 390,977 shares of company stock valued at $202,384,548. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.