Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $664.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $752.00 to $664.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $572.21 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $576.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $603.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $432.28 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This trade represents a 3.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,449 shares in the company, valued at $10,443,524. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 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.