UPDATE: Sterne Agee Raises PT on Facebook as Instagram Monetization will Begin Before Year-End

In a report published Friday, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia reiterated a Buy rating on Facebook FB, and raised the price target from $50.00 to $58.00. In the report, Sterne Agee noted, “We are raising our FY14 and FY15 revenue/adjusted EBITDA estimates to reflect monetization of Instagram and better-than-expected ongoing trends. We are raising our target price to $58 from $50 based on 20x our new FY15 adjusted-EBITDA estimate of $6.8B (up from $6.3B). Our target multiple is a slight expansion from our prior estimate of 18x and slightly above the peer-group average of 18x. We continue to recommend FB as a core holding in Internet portfolios.” Facebook closed on Thursday at $49.18.