Susquehanna Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Susquehanna from $675.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “positive” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.72% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on META. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $679.12.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.0 %

NASDAQ META traded up $26.97 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $703.46. 9,421,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,582,289. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $608.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $563.58. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 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.