Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) PT Raised to $600.00 at Raymond James

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Raymond James from $550.00 to $600.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a “strong-buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Raymond James’ price target suggests a potential upside of 19.68% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on META. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $2.89 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $501.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,236,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,323,208. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.62. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,258,362.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 201,557 shares of company stock valued at $97,894,296. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is 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.