Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Benchmark

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) was upgraded by research analysts at Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $820.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price indicates a potential upside of 21.21% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on META. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $671.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $676.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $387.10 and a 1-year high of $682.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $608.52 and its 200 day moving average price 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total value of $14,508,376.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 580 shares in the company, valued at $376,234.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total value of $259,194.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,954,832.58. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Creekside Partners purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,141,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 75.1% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,925,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.