Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $680.00 to $750.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Robert W. Baird's target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.17% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $703.38.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ META traded up $10.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $687.00. 29,271,983 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,711,077. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The business's 50 day moving average is $608.52 and its 200-day moving average is $563.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.