Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives Strong-Buy Rating from Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Raymond James in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $675.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price points to a potential upside of 17.69% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $573.54 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $573.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $525.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $269,449,230. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,656 shares of company stock worth $61,933,867. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.