Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Now Covered by Analysts at BNP Paribas

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

Several other research firms have also recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $10.28 during 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $408.34. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,853,952. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 89,395 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $43,408,000 after buying an additional 16,137 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 370.0% during the first quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,457 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147 shares in the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the first quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 5,066 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,460,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.