Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $740.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 23.95% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.02 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $575.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,936,593.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,588,349.12. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 13.1% during the first quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 4,439 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 280,081 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $161,427,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Burling Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% during the first quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,884 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is 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.