Arete Upgrades Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to Buy

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) was upgraded by Arete from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $718.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Arete’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.62% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on META. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $673.42 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $673.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $706.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the second quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.