Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 0.1%

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $474.36 and last traded at $468.30. 3,441,539 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 17,445,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $467.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $484.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $423.86.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.52, for a total transaction of $15,353,467.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $480.00, for a total value of $280,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,115,840. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.52, for a total transaction of $15,353,467.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 917,544 shares of company stock worth $453,751,884. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. 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.