Meta Platforms’ (META) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $660.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $6.77 on Monday, hitting $568.12. 4,004,732 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,617,740. The firm has a market cap 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $507.58 and its two-hundred 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms 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 sale, the insider now owns 36,912 shares in the company, valued at $19,848,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 36,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,848,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Peggy Alford sold 1,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.00, for a total transaction of $503,908.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,954,472. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 346,666 shares of company stock worth $180,145,414 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after buying an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in 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 worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake 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 worth $5,157,093,000 after purchasing an additional 344,384 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.