Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $720.00 at Cantor Fitzgerald

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $730.00 to $720.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.13% from the stock’s current price. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2024 earnings at $22.67 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $25.20 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $25.53 EPS.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $636.45 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $600.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.30. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $638.40. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the period. 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.