Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, KeyCorp Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at KeyCorp from $655.00 to $800.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.59% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $828.00 price target (up previously from $807.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Pivotal Research decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $704.28 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $686.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $637.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 153,764 shares of company stock worth $105,721,208. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.