Cantor Fitzgerald Begins Coverage on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an "overweight" rating and a $660.00 price target on the social networking company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's target price suggests a potential upside of 27.69% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $4.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $516.86. 8,619,425 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,882,903. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $544.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $505.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $493.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,449,230. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,449,230. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.75, for a total value of $208,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,061,678.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 390,072 shares of company stock worth $201,913,948. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $105,117,000. Creekside Partners bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $327,000. NCP Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the second quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 114,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $57,505,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $2,333,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms by 52.8% during the second quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 25,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,608,000 after buying an additional 8,638 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.