Pivotal Research Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $800.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Pivotal Research from $780.00 to $800.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Pivotal Research’s target price suggests a potential upside of 41.05% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $567.16 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.03. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $308.33 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 36.26%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.47 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms 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 $39,285,234.04. This 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 have sold 251,993 shares of company stock worth $133,271,982. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Troy Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 101,634 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $58,179,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the period. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 39,414 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,569,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Austin Asset Management Co Inc raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 1,617 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 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.