Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded by Arete Research to Strong-Buy Rating

Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating. Other analysts have also adjusted their price targets, with Rosenblatt Securities increasing theirs to $1,117.00 and Bank of America lowering theirs to $810.00. Meta's stock opened at $661.53, with a market cap of $1.67 trillion. Recent earnings exceeded expectations, and insider trading activity was noted. Institutional investors have been adjusting their positions in the company.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Arete Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

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META has been the topic of several other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $870.00 price target (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $718.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $819.43.

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Meta Platforms Price Performance

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META opened at $661.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $674.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $705.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. This trade represents a 82.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.03, for a total value of $330,378.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,680.04. This represents a 3.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,671,107. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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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.

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