Scotiabank Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $583.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Scotiabank from $585.00 to $583.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 1.58% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on META. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $629.39.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $17.84 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $573.96. The stock had a trading volume of 10,632,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,083,925. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $554.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $512.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $296.86 and a one year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,493,681. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $536.92, for a total value of $221,747.96. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 14,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,744,534.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 250,818 shares of company stock valued at $132,569,993. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.