Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $835.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $767.00 to $835.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Susquehanna raised Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citizens Jmp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $643.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $604.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $626.52. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intergy Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% in the second quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 23,553 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,267,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. now owns 2,603 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after buying an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,493 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 43,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,661,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta and kept an overweight rating, signaling expectations for meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Wells Fargo target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn also boosted its target and reiterated a buy rating, reflecting growing optimism that Meta can monetize AI more effectively. Benzinga report on Rothschild & Co Redburn target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Meta’s expanding AI strategy, including possible cloud/compute sales and large enterprise deals, which could create a new revenue stream and support margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America said Meta is positioned to beat second-quarter expectations, citing healthy ad demand and AI-driven improvements ahead of earnings later this month.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary continues to frame Meta as a key beneficiary of the AI spending boom, with investors watching whether infrastructure investment can be monetized faster than expected.
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison piece versus Pinterest and a broader “Mag 7” article mainly added background, but did not change the core investment thesis for META.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a Tennessee trial over claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive and contributed to youth mental-health issues, adding legal and regulatory risk.
• Negative Sentiment: A New York Times report said Meta’s AI moderation mistakenly banned user accounts, raising questions about product reliability and trust in its automated systems.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing investor concerns remain around heavy AI spending, data-center financing, and whether returns on that capital will justify the expense.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.