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

Investment analysts at BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. BNP Paribas’ price target would indicate a potential downside of 20.35% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $10.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $490.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $408.34. 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 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,853,952. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,876 shares of company stock valued at $613,168,252 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.