Loop Capital Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Loop Capital from $695.00 to $888.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Loop Capital’s price target indicates a potential upside of 38.68% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of META opened at $640.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $571.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $606.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,852 shares of company stock worth $41,665,958. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 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.