Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $675.00 to $715.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.72% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $617.89 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $352.05 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The company has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.20. 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 simple moving average of $591.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $551.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 361,640 shares of company stock valued at $219,037,690. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 215.6% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 4,649 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after buying an additional 3,176 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,672,000. Norway Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 3,826 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $94,000. Finally, Bath Savings Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.