Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $790.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target suggests a potential upside of 35.05% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on META. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $1.03 on Wednesday, hitting $584.97. The company had a trading volume of 3,168,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,236,933. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $653.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $610.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,673.10. This represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 583,505 shares of company stock worth $385,495,911 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.