Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $627.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $583.00 to $627.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 10.88% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $674.48.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.0 %

META opened at $703.52 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $703.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $608.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 661,312 shares of company stock valued at $407,377,422. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.