Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Overweight” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $660.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.17% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Loop Capital raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded up $6.77 during trading on Monday, hitting $568.12. 4,004,732 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,617,740. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $573.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $507.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $497.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,737,915.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total value of $8,532,717.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 230,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,737,915.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,666 shares of company stock valued at $180,145,414 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,569,705 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,157,093,000 after purchasing an additional 344,384 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.