Cantor Fitzgerald Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $790.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective raised by Cantor Fitzgerald from $720.00 to $790.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.63% from the company’s previous close. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $24.45 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $689.18 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $613.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $565.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.