Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $720.00 Price Target at Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target cut by Cantor Fitzgerald from $830.00 to $720.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $825.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of META stock opened at $590.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $704.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $705.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. This trade represents a 7.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,682,229.20. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,024 shares of company stock worth $19,233,987. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after acquiring an additional 278,180 shares in 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.