Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Increased to $530.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $500.00 to $530.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price points to a potential upside of 11.62% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $552.39.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $474.83 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $493.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $477.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $274.38 and a 12 month high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

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. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 20.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.93, for a total transaction of $218,505.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,186.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $445.93, for a total transaction of $218,505.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,186.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 311,175 shares of company stock valued at $154,616,712. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.