Sanford C. Bernstein Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $590.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $535.00 to $590.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.80% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $15.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $509.50. The company had a trading volume of 5,490,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,917,754. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $493.65 and a 200-day moving average of $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,247 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 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.