Monness Crespi & Hardt Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $620.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $570.00 to $620.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on META. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $597.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.7 %

META stock opened at $576.47 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $519.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $500.85. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $583.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $235,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,044,630. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 308,462 shares of company stock valued at $162,308,065. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $595,152,000. 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.