UBS Group Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $690.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by investment analysts at UBS Group from $635.00 to $690.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 16.38% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $601.08.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $592.89 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $529.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $503.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 266,332 shares of company stock worth $139,981,833. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $595,152,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $515,383,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.