Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $620.00 by Analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target raised by research analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $570.00 to $620.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.28% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $593.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $567.36 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $499.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $577.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of Meta Platforms 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 transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 328,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,314,333.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 325,656 shares of company stock worth $171,028,659 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.