Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $675.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $600.00 to $675.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 19.75% from the company’s current price.

META has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $563.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $548.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $509.61. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares in the company, valued at $6,456,828. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 249,912 shares of company stock valued at $132,027,612. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 59.0% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.