Jefferies Financial Group Boosts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $875.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $710.00 to $875.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.05% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $820.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $785.00 price target (down from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.63.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 11.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $741.24 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $785.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $608.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $610.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 27.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total value of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This trade represents a 34.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% 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. Insiders have sold 81,758 shares of company stock worth $51,214,020 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RHL Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Schuylkill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse is gaining traction: Muse reportedly surpassed ChatGPT, Grok and Claude in U.S. iOS rankings, with approximately 730,000 downloads in its first several days. Estimates also indicate that its first 12-day mobile launch outpaced ChatGPT’s early performance, strengthening expectations that Meta can monetize AI across its large user base. Meta’s Muse personal AI agent tops ChatGPT, Grok and Claude for post-launch downloads
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support added momentum: Wells Fargo raised its Meta price target to $796 from $640 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing recent AI model launches and early Muse adoption. Investor attention is also building ahead of Meta Connect, with options activity increasing as traders anticipate further product announcements. Meta stock jumps 9% today: here’s why
• Positive Sentiment: Potential platform and commerce opportunity: Shopify plans to let Muse complete purchases at participating stores, while Stripe and other services could help turn Muse into a developer platform and new transaction-revenue channel. Shopify to Use Meta’s Muse for Agentic Checkout
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure investment supports the longer-term thesis: Meta’s planned Alberta data center and large-scale subsea network underscore its commitment to AI capacity, although these projects require substantial capital spending. Meta data center boosts Alberta appeal for hyperscalers
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s agreement with plastics-recycling startup MacroCycle may help fund development of MacroCycle’s first commercial plant, but the announcement appears unlikely to materially affect Meta’s near-term earnings or valuation. Meta deal will help plastics recycling startup MacroCycle build its first factory
• Negative Sentiment: Risks could limit follow-through: Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its website over security, privacy and unauthorized-agent concerns, highlighting the regulatory and platform-access challenges facing agentic commerce. In addition, Zacks noted that recent earnings-estimate revisions do not currently support continued strength. Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse AI assistant

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company’s principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.