Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 0.9%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was up 0.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $521.63 and last traded at $517.26. Approximately 2,977,624 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 15,846,526 shares. The stock had previously closed at $512.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $493.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total transaction of $8,404,112.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 301,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,697,700.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total transaction of $221,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at $7,744,534.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 390,072 shares of company stock worth $201,913,948. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $105,117,000. Creekside Partners acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $327,000. NCP Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 114,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $57,505,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $2,333,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 52.8% during the second quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 25,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,608,000 after acquiring an additional 8,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.