Wolfe Research Raises Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $230.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Rating) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Wolfe Research from $220.00 to $230.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.23% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $205.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Cowen boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $158.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.6 %

META stock opened at $204.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $531.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.08. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $88.09 and a 52 week high of $236.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.25, for a total transaction of $73,589.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,793,327.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 393 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.25, for a total transaction of $73,589.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,793,327.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.96, for a total value of $242,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $510,059.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,342 shares of company stock worth $12,285,012 in the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after purchasing an additional 249,926 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 60.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

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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.