Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Oppenheimer from $650.00 to $800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Oppenheimer's price target points to a potential upside of 16.21% from the company's current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $703.38.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $11.89 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $688.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,295,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,273,662. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $608.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% 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. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.

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