KeyCorp Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by KeyCorp from $750.00 to $710.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target suggests a potential upside of 20.80% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $587.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $657.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.