JMP Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by stock analysts at JMP Securities from $660.00 to $750.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. JMP Securities’ price target points to a potential upside of 28.09% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $640.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $585.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $340.01 and a 12-month high of $638.40. 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 simple moving average is $588.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $547.56.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.73, for a total transaction of $241,080.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,973,238.58. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 326,211 shares of company stock valued at $197,633,759. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% during the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.