Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Citigroup Inc. in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. They presently have a $200.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $190.00. Citigroup Inc.’s target price indicates a potential upside of 17.34% from the stock’s current price.
Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Aegis reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Facebook in a report on Sunday, April 2nd. Barclays PLC reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Facebook in a report on Friday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Facebook in a report on Monday, April 17th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Facebook from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Facebook in a report on Monday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Facebook has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.64.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) traded up 2.92% during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $170.44. The company had a trading volume of 68,910,708 shares. The firm has a market capitalization of $493.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34 and a beta of 0.67. Facebook has a 1-year low of $113.55 and a 1-year high of $175.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $155.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.00. Facebook also was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 213,349 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 121% compared to the typical daily volume of 96,355 call options.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The social networking company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.19. Facebook had a return on equity of 20.27% and a net margin of 36.45%. The firm had revenue of $9.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 44.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Facebook will post $4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In other Facebook news, Director Jan Koum sold 3,200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.27, for a total value of $480,864,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Colin Stretch sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total transaction of $123,967.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 83,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,868,822.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,360,716 shares of company stock valued at $2,083,016,681 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 19.08% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Facebook during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,046,500,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Facebook by 15,047.5% in the second quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,540,691 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,828,000 after buying an additional 2,523,918 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Facebook by 1.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 93,365,713 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,262,607,000 after buying an additional 1,536,158 shares in the last quarter. HPM Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Facebook during the first quarter valued at approximately $195,602,000. Finally, Alecta Pensionsforsakring Omsesidigt raised its stake in Facebook by 131.8% in the first quarter. Alecta Pensionsforsakring Omsesidigt now owns 1,970,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $279,838,000 after buying an additional 1,120,000 shares in the last quarter. 57.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Facebook Company Profile
Facebook, Inc is focused on building products that enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers and other surfaces. The Company’s products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. Facebook enables people to connect, share, discover and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers.
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