Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reported fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Wednesday, and it may have been one of the best earnings reports that the company has seen. Now, shares are just off their off their all-time highs and analysts are practically salivating over this stock.

24/7 Wall St. has included a few key highlights from the earnings report, then added what a couple of analysts are saying about Facebook after earnings.

Perhaps the biggest announcement from the report was that the Facebook’s board of directors had approved a proposal “to amend and restate” its existing certificate of incorporation to create a new class of non-voting capital stock, known as the Class C capital stock. In other words, Facebook is taking a similar approach to that which Google — now Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) — has taken to restructure its shares and create multiple classes of stock.

The whole point of the restructuring is to create a capital structure that will allow the company to remain focused on its long-term vision or objectives. However, the adoption of the proposal is still subject to the approval of its shareholders at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled be held on June 20.

The social network said it had $0.77 in earnings per share (EPS) on $5.4 billion in revenue, versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that called for $0.62 in EPS on revenue of $5.26 billion. In the same period of last year, the social media giant posted EPS of $0.42 and $3.54 billion in revenue.

Daily active users (DAUs) totaled 1.09 billion for the three months that ended in March, an increase of 16% from last year, while mobile DAUs were 989 million, an increase of 24%. Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.65 billion at the end of the quarter, an increase of 15%. At the same time, mobile MAUs totaled 1.51 billion, which was an increase of 21%.

After the Facebook report, Merrill Lynch reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target for the stock to $145 from $140. The firm believes that the network effects were highlighted in a solid user and strong revenue quarter, and the company remains or top idea for the mobile internet. With Instagram ($5 billion opportunity) monetization still mostly ahead, the analysts at Merrill Lynch think Facebook is in the best position in the sector to meet or beat expectations. Also, messaging is starting to roll out tools for monetization, while live videos should be a positive for usage — and eventually for revenues.

The brokerage firm gave its investment rationale as follows:

Facebook is an investment in increasing social and mobile Internet usage, and also offers exposure to growing Internet usage in emerging markets. Driven by user growth, new product offerings, and new ad formats, we expect Facebook to gain share in advertising markets and grow 30%+ over the next three years, which warrants a premium valuation to its Internet peers, in our view.

Wells Fargo maintained an Outperform rating and gave its valuation range as $145 to $150 for the shares. This investment bank believes that Facebook’s leadership position, improving mobile monetization, growth profile and long-term potential merit a premium valuation. Wells Fargo presented its investment thesis as follows:

We view the evolution of social platforms as the most significant digital marketing development since the emergence of search, and believe Facebook’s audience scale, targeting capabilities, and social connectivity offer opportunity for marketers across the category, size, and regional spectrum.

An incredible number of analysts weighed in on Facebook after its earnings were reported:

• FBN Securities has an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $155 from $135.
• Evercore ISI has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $140 from $130.
• Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $160 from $145.
• Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating but raised its target from $130 to $140.
• Stifel reiterated its Buy rating but raised its target price to $145 from $130.
• RBC reiterated its Outperform rating but raised its target to $165 from $160.
• Wedbush has an Outperform rating and adjusted its price target on the shares to $145 from $128.
• Susquehanna has a Positive rating and raised its price target to $145 from $140.
• SunTrust Robinson Humphrey has a Buy rating and lifted its price target from $125 to $135.
• Mizuho has a Buy rating and has adjusted its target price to $140 from $130.
• Pivotal Research has a Buy rating and slightly raised its price target, from $154 to $157.
• Baird has an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $135 from $120.
• Nomura has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $145 from $135.
• JPMorgan has an Overweight rating and boosted its price target to $161 from $136.
• JMP Securities has a Market Outperform rating and raised its price target to $147 from $140.
• Jefferies has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $160 from $145.
• Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating and raised its price objective from $130 to $146.
• Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $160 from $145.
• Credit Suisse has an Outperform rating but only raised its price target to $145 from $142.
• Cowen has an Outperform rating and raised its target price to $145 from $140.
• Citigroup raised its price target to $141 from $133.
• Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $150 from $135.
• Barclays has an Overweight rating and raised its price target from $140 to $150.
• BMO Capital Markets has a Market Perform rating with a $120 price target.

Shares of Facebook closed trading at $117.58 on Friday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $142.44 and a 52-week trading range of $72.00 to $120.79.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.