Citigroup Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $800.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $850.00 to $800.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 50.09% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on META. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $797.70.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 9.0%

META stock traded down $52.61 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $533.00. 30,863,351 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,804,207. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $603.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of approximately $60.2 billion. Advertising trends remained healthy, with ad impressions, pricing and Instagram engagement benefiting from AI-powered recommendations. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings despite reducing their price targets. Truist, TD Cowen, DA Davidson, Cantor Fitzgerald and others still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s risk-reward profile if advertising growth continues. Analyst Price Target Updates
• Positive Sentiment: Meta highlighted potential longer-term monetization opportunities, including enterprise AI agents, new AI-enabled applications and possibly leasing excess computing capacity to outside customers. WhatsApp also reported record usage during the FIFA World Cup final. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: India summoned Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident adds regulatory and political scrutiny in a strategically important market, though no material financial impact was reported. India summons Meta executives
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings per share of $6.18 missed consensus estimates near $7.20 and fell from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal and severance charges, along with higher operating costs, weighed heavily on profit. Meta’s Stock Tumbles After Profits Disappoint
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on capital expenditures this year, while operating cash flow was largely absorbed by AI infrastructure spending. Future lease obligations tied mainly to AI data centers reached $279 billion, up 53% in three months, intensifying concerns about cash flow, margins and balance-sheet risk. Meta narrows annual capex forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the roughly $63.2 billion analyst consensus. Investors also remain unconvinced that Meta has offered a clear timeline for converting its AI spending into meaningful incremental revenue. Meta leaves investors wanting more on AI monetization timeline

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.