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

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $572.21 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $576.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $603.54. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $432.28 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.