Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $685.00 to $752.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.12% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $689.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $613.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.78. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in 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.