Cantor Fitzgerald Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $730.00 to $720.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.57% from the stock’s previous close. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $25.53 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.49.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $622.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $382.08 and a one year high of $638.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $598.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.31.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 46,303 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,606 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $230,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 83,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $48,871,000 after acquiring an additional 6,166 shares during the period. Finally, OLIO Financial Planning purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. 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.