BMO Capital Markets Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $710.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price upped by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $610.00 to $710.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential downside of 5.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on META. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $808.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $750.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $701.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $645.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $450.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $336,232.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,755,013.36. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $369,655.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 5,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,136,275. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Csenge Advisory Group grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $284,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.