Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Rating) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $209.27.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $210.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $130.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Thursday.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $204.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $165.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $531.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.18. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $88.09 and a 52-week high of $236.86.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.88. The company had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.69 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 19.90% and a return on equity of 21.23%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 342 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.70, for a total transaction of $39,911.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,052,988.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 342 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.70, for a total transaction of $39,911.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,052,988.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.96, for a total value of $242,144.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,059.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,342 shares of company stock valued at $12,285,012 in the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the first quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc now owns 3,490 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Red Wave Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the first quarter. Red Wave Investments LLC now owns 1,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 12,884 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimension Capital Management LLC now owns 3,677 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.92% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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Meta Platforms, Inc, engages in the development of social media applications. It builds technology that helps people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. It operates through the Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL) segments. The FoA segment consists of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services.