Cantor Fitzgerald Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $828.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $807.00 to $828.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, July 16th, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.18% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Pivotal Research reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $664.00 to $783.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $752.33.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $712.68. The company had a trading volume of 8,237,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,454,737. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $691.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $640.92. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $450.80 and a twelve month high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $336,232.20. Following the sale, the director owned 9,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,755,013.36. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.10, for a total value of $371,655.90. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,668,010.90. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 153,473 shares of company stock worth $105,805,440. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 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.