Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $525.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $475.00 to $525.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential downside of 10.71% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $647.00 to $652.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $605.33.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $4.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $587.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,566,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,401,146. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $532.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $503.76. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.81, for a total value of $218,693.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,388,160.23. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.81, for a total value of $218,693.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,388,160.23. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 266,332 shares of company stock worth $139,981,833 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after buying an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after buying an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.