Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $660.00 to $710.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 12.60% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on META. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $7.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $630.55. The company had a trading volume of 2,884,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,296,420. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $638.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $598.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $558.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 926.6% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $369,774,000 after buying an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.