Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $650.00 at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Raymond James from $600.00 to $650.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “strong-buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ price target points to a potential upside of 10.18% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on META. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $589.95 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $538.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $505.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total transaction of $859,886.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,238,845.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total transaction of $859,886.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,238,845.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. now owns 3,332 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,179,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares in the last quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 2,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $819,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Grand Jean Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. Grand Jean Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,937 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,906,000 after acquiring an additional 19,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 184.5% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 157,140 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,621,000 after purchasing an additional 101,915 shares during the last quarter. 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.