Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $585.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an underperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $609.71.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $589.95 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $538.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $505.67. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $602.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total value of $75,073.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,387 shares in the company, valued at $62,254,449.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,852.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 252,443 shares of company stock valued at $133,105,284. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,185,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $419,671,000 after buying an additional 19,355 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,701,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 19,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,003,000 after purchasing an additional 5,668 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,134,000. Institutional investors 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.