Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $525.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Scotiabank from $627.00 to $525.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "sector perform" rating on the social networking company's stock. Scotiabank's price objective indicates a potential downside of 1.03% from the company's current price.

META has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $681.67.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 6.0 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $30.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $530.46. 6,793,363 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,764,493. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $598.76 and a 200 day moving average of $605.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 342,662 shares of company stock valued at $237,476,709 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 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.