Roth Capital Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by Roth Capital from $580.00 to $620.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Roth Capital’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.85% from the company’s previous close. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2026 earnings at $6.32 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.48 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $8.50 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $597.02 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $575.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 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.