Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $685.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $641.00 to $685.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on META. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2 %

META opened at $608.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $594.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $554.18. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $358.61 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares during the period. BOKF NA boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 93,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,958 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 241,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $121,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% in the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 8,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,244,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.9% during the second quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,551,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 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.