Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $625.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $593.00 to $625.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $512.70 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $491.62 and a 200-day moving average of $464.99. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $274.38 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 294,278 shares of company stock worth $146,060,559. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 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.