Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given “Strong-Buy” Rating at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Raymond James in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $675.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock traded up $5.58 during trading on Monday, reaching $564.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,599,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,921,218. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $572.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $524.71.

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This represents a 0.02 % 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,141 shares of company stock valued at $83,390,497 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the first quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $1,829,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 59.6% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Point Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Clear Point Advisors Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.