Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $795.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective decreased by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $802.00 to $795.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.76% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.73.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $5.48 on Monday, hitting $647.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,665,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,585,629. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $641.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $703.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $650.41, for a total value of $336,261.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 11,683 shares in the company, valued at $7,598,740.03. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,038 shares of company stock valued at $25,500,705 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s large-scale energy strategy (including a definitive deal to secure nuclear baseload capacity and a 6.6 GW pipeline) is being framed as a strategic moat for its AI/data‑center ambitions — it reduces exposure to grid risk and locks in power costs, which supports long‑term monetization of always‑on AI services. (This is a structural, multi‑year bullish argument.)
• Positive Sentiment: Core business fundamentals and AI positioning remain supportive: recent quarters showed strong revenue/margin performance and executives continue to prioritize AI compute and infrastructure — factors that underpin analyst interest in META as an AI platform play.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor debate continues over heavy capex and valuation — spending on data centers and energy projects increases near‑term cash deployment and raises margin/valuation questions, but management is funding much of this with cash/prepayments rather than debt, which moderates balance‑sheet risk. How The Narrative Around Meta Platforms (META) Is Shifting With AI Spending And Valuation Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and user‑base headwinds in Australia: Meta says it has blocked/deleted roughly 500k–550k accounts to comply with Australia’s new under‑16 social media ban and is publicly urging the country to rethink the law — this raises user‑engagement and regulatory‑risk headlines that can pressure sentiment short term. Meta urges Australia to rethink under-16 social media ban after blocking over 500,000 accounts

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.