Piper Sandler Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $545.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $600.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.94% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of META stock opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $229.85 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $404.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,574,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. 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.