Citigroup Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $645.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by analysts at Citigroup from $580.00 to $645.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.53% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on META. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of META traded up $6.77 on Monday, hitting $568.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,004,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,617,740. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $507.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $497.28. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $573.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total value of $486,636.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,848,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total transaction of $486,636.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,912 shares in the company, valued at $19,848,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 346,666 shares of company stock worth $180,145,414. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 14,569,705 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,157,093,000 after purchasing an additional 344,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.