Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates Overweight Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $828.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $807.00. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price points to a potential upside of 19.22% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $736.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $6.91 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $694.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,677,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,320,231. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $747.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $683.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $637.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total value of $370,947.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,892,632.50. The trade was a 7.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’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 $375,278.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,225,251.04. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 153,764 shares of company stock valued at $105,721,208. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 79.91% of the stock is 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.