Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given “Overweight” Rating at Piper Sandler

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $808.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $650.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.14% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.52.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $733.63 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $638.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $626.48. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,862,237.92. The trade was a 19.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 124,831 shares of company stock valued at $83,868,872 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.