BNP Paribas Begins Coverage on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $360.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of META stock traded up $10.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $451.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,489,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,698,000. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $229.85 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $490.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $408.34.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock worth $613,168,252 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.