Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 5.58% from the stock’s previous close.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $584.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $568.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $576.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $498.54.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 213,007 shares in the company, valued at $109,690,084.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 359,060 shares of company stock valued at $188,031,963 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $595,152,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.