Pivotal Research Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Pivotal Research from $830.00 to $930.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Pivotal Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 24.00% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $812.00 price target (up from $683.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

META opened at $750.01 on Thursday. The stock 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $701.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $645.68. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $450.80 and a twelve month high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 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.