Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Raised to $886.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lifted by Rosenblatt Securities from $883.00 to $886.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citizens Jmp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $578.02 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $592.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $611.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares in the company, valued at $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,092,006. This represents a 44.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 34,957 shares of company stock worth $20,442,696 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 56,957.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,878,304,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,058,030,191,000 after buying an additional 1,875,012,642 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,957,946,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732,446 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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: The settlement limits litigation risk by resolving claims from a broad coalition of states without an admission of liability. Analysts view the payment as manageable relative to Meta’s revenue and cash generation, while the company avoids potentially disruptive court-ordered changes to products such as Reels, Stories and its recommendation systems. Meta’s social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s advertising engine continues to benefit from improved ad-ranking technology and growing advertiser use of artificial intelligence to create campaigns, supporting demand even as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Ca$htag$: Meta’s AI Bet Not Showing Returns, Yet
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt raised its price target to $886 and maintained a buy rating, pointing to substantial potential upside from current levels. The stock’s valuation also remains below that of many large technology peers, strengthening the bargain argument for some investors. Meta price target raised by Rosenblatt
• Neutral Sentiment: The new teen safeguards—including time limits, muted notifications and stronger parental controls—could become a regulatory template for TikTok, YouTube, Snap and international markets. This creates industrywide compliance costs, but may also give Meta greater legal clarity. Meta settlement puts social media industry on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financial risks: age-verification technology may be unreliable, critics say the protections do not address teen mental-health concerns, and regulators in the U.K., South Korea and elsewhere may demand similar measures. Restrictions could eventually reduce teen engagement and advertising opportunities. Meta’s child-safety deal and age verification
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s substantial AI capital spending has not yet produced a proportionate revenue payoff, while an executive overseeing India and Southeast Asia is leaving for OpenAI. Those developments add to concerns about returns on investment and management stability. Meta executive leaves for OpenAI

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.