Meta Platforms’ (META) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Rosenblatt Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,117.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 68.85% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on META. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $718.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $661.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $674.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $705.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. 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.