Bank of America Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $710.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $660.00 to $710.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.65% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on META. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $647.49 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $652.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $601.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $4,943,375.40. This represents a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other 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.