Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $795.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $802.00 to $795.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.73.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $5.48 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $647.58. 1,665,055 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,585,629. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $641.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $703.52. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 41,038 shares of company stock worth $25,500,705 in the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 75.0% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s large-scale energy strategy (including a definitive deal to secure nuclear baseload capacity and a 6.6 GW pipeline) is being framed as a strategic moat for its AI/data‑center ambitions — it reduces exposure to grid risk and locks in power costs, which supports long‑term monetization of always‑on AI services. (This is a structural, multi‑year bullish argument.)
• Positive Sentiment: Core business fundamentals and AI positioning remain supportive: recent quarters showed strong revenue/margin performance and executives continue to prioritize AI compute and infrastructure — factors that underpin analyst interest in META as an AI platform play.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor debate continues over heavy capex and valuation — spending on data centers and energy projects increases near‑term cash deployment and raises margin/valuation questions, but management is funding much of this with cash/prepayments rather than debt, which moderates balance‑sheet risk. How The Narrative Around Meta Platforms (META) Is Shifting With AI Spending And Valuation Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and user‑base headwinds in Australia: Meta says it has blocked/deleted roughly 500k–550k accounts to comply with Australia’s new under‑16 social media ban and is publicly urging the country to rethink the law — this raises user‑engagement and regulatory‑risk headlines that can pressure sentiment short term. Meta urges Australia to rethink under-16 social media ban after blocking over 500,000 accounts

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.