Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $645.00 to $705.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 24.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on META. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.37.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of META stock traded down $24.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $567.58. 26,674,070 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,159,953. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $554.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $512.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $296.86 and a 12 month high of $602.95. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at $311,493,681. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,818 shares of company stock worth $132,569,993 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st 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 during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors 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.