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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $641.00 to $685.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on META. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $617.12 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $358.61 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.07, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $595.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $554.81.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock valued at $301,101,199. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its position in Meta Platforms by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 93,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,958 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during 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 raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 8,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,244,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.