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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $670.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.13% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.37.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $576.93 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $545.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $508.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $602.95. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,130 shares in the company, valued at $17,206,674. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total transaction of $443,269.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,206,674. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,816 shares of company stock worth $132,421,828 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.