Piper Sandler Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $600.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.21% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.75.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.2 %

META stock opened at $511.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $491.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $391.91. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total transaction of $211,446.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,393,590.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,460,035 shares of company stock valued at $691,937,607. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

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.