Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Aegis in a report released on Thursday. They presently have a $200.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $185.00. Aegis’ price target indicates a potential upside of 17.34% from the stock’s current price.
Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS AG restated a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Facebook in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Barclays PLC restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Facebook in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $163.00 price target on shares of Facebook in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Vetr upgraded Facebook from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $154.73 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded Facebook from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $173.10.
Facebook (FB) traded up 2.92% during trading on Thursday, hitting $170.44. 68,910,708 shares of the stock traded hands. The stock has a market cap of $493.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34 and a beta of 0.67. Facebook has a 12 month low of $113.55 and a 12 month high of $175.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $155.22 and its 200-day moving average is $144.00. Facebook also was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 213,349 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 121% compared to the typical volume of 96,355 call options.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The social networking company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $9.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.19 billion. Facebook had a return on equity of 20.27% and a net margin of 36.45%. Facebook’s revenue was up 44.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Facebook will post $4.89 EPS for the current year.
In related news, VP Colin Stretch sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $114,877.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,227,561.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.28, for a total value of $2,628,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 196,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,341,967.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,360,716 shares of company stock valued at $2,083,016,681 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 19.08% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its position in Facebook by 20.0% in the first quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 721 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. D. Scott Neal Inc. raised its position in Facebook by 1,358.0% in the second quarter. D. Scott Neal Inc. now owns 729 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Facebook during the first quarter worth about $121,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Facebook by 4.4% in the second quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 809 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Facebook by 9.5% in the first quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 910 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.68% of the company’s stock.
About Facebook
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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