Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $664.00 to $783.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the social networking company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price suggests a potential upside of 9.13% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on META. Wedbush boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $729.38.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.73 on Tuesday, hitting $717.51. The company had a trading volume of 10,855,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,480,952. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $674.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $634.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,181,574.40. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.