Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $802.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $837.00 to $802.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 23.70% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of META opened at $648.35 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $738.28 and its 200-day moving average is $696.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,965,078.06. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,697,760.59. This trade represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other 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.