Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $660.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.00% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on META. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $593.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $6.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $573.91. 4,312,225 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,555,957. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $577.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $516.19 and a 200 day moving average of $499.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.94, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total transaction of $8,502,988.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,113,116.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 325,656 shares of company stock worth $171,028,659. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the second quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.