Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $800.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price increased by analysts at DA Davidson from $700.00 to $800.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target indicates a potential upside of 16.08% from the company’s current price. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q1 2025 earnings at $5.45 EPS.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $689.18 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $613.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $565.78. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $387.10 and a 1 year high of $710.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Creekside Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $327,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $213,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,141,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 75.1% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,720,000 after buying an additional 9,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $2,925,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.