Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $840.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $740.00 to $840.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.77% from the stock's previous close.

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Several other equities research analysts have also commented on META. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "mkt outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $805.09.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

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META stock traded up $84.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $779.45. 26,361,359 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,542,034. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $450.80 and a 1-year high of $784.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $696.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $643.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

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In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 152,461 shares of company stock worth $105,335,225. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 15 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.

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