Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns Overweight Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $664.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential downside of 4.57% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on META. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ META opened at $695.77 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $612.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $621.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 139,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,834,277.94. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at $4,205,164.86. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 110,512 shares of company stock worth $73,590,232. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.