Argus Raises Facebook (FB) Price Target to $237.00

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Argus to $237.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Argus’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.74% from the company’s previous close.

FB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Facebook in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Goldman Sachs Group set a $205.00 target price on Facebook and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Facebook from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Facebook from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, Wedbush set a $225.00 target price on Facebook and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, forty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $212.09.

Shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) opened at $193.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $561,080.00, a PE ratio of 35.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.58. Facebook has a fifty-two week low of $130.30 and a fifty-two week high of $195.32.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The social networking company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $10.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.84 billion. Facebook had a return on equity of 27.25% and a net margin of 39.16%. Facebook’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. analysts predict that Facebook will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

In related news, VP David B. Fischer sold 5,587 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.66, for a total value of $1,048,456.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jan Koum sold 594,246 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.35, for a total value of $106,578,020.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,564,837 shares of company stock valued at $281,533,757. Insiders own 17.23% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FB. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Facebook by 1.1% during the second quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Facebook by 0.3% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Russell LLC grew its stake in shares of Facebook by 0.5% during the second quarter. Halbert Hargrove Russell LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Facebook by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspen Investment Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Facebook by 0.4% during the second quarter. Aspen Investment Management Inc now owns 6,915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.81% of the company’s stock.

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About Facebook

Facebook, Inc is focused on building products that enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers and other surfaces. The Company’s products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. Facebook enables people to connect, share, discover and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers.