JMP Securities Reaffirms Market Outperform Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at JMP Securities in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $750.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. JMP Securities’ price target indicates a potential upside of 11.22% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on META. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $674.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $682.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $606.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $562.78.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 602,612 shares of company stock valued at $368,414,542 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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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.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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