Susquehanna Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $675.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Susquehanna from $600.00 to $675.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “positive” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price indicates a potential upside of 19.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on META. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.59.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $28.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $563.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,103,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,119,335. 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 has a 12-month low of $296.86 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $554.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $512.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. The trade was 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 related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. The trade was 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. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,254,449.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 250,818 shares of company stock valued at $132,569,993 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.