Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Benchmark

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

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on META. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $676.49 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $682.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $608.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $563.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.