Meta Platforms’ (META) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $770.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $700.00. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.46% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $679.12.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $26.97 on Thursday, hitting $703.46. The company had a trading volume of 9,421,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,582,289. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $608.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $563.58. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $387.10 and a 1 year high of $710.79. 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is 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.