Citigroup Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $590.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $525.00 to $590.00 in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 18.06% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $527.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $499.76 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $493.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $396.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 over the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.