Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $710.00 to $765.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.00% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $689.18 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $710.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $613.60 and a 200-day moving average of $565.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 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.