Sanford C. Bernstein Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $590.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $535.00 to $590.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.64% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $481.07 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $494.55 and its 200-day moving average is $398.64. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,086,721.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 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.