Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Scotiabank

Investment analysts at Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a "sector perform" rating and a $585.00 price target on the social networking company's stock. Scotiabank's price target suggests a potential downside of 0.84% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $6.12 on Friday, hitting $589.95. The company had a trading volume of 8,579,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,361,877. 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 company has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $279.40 and a 52-week high of $602.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $536.08 and a 200 day moving average of $504.92.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. 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 accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total transaction of $859,886.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,238,845.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,443 shares of company stock worth $133,105,284. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.