Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $675.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $600.00 to $675.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.09% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on META. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $780.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of META opened at $571.62 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $547.72 and a 200 day moving average of $509.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.83, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,810,838.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 249,911 shares of company stock worth $131,978,559. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the third quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.