Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns Buy Rating from Guggenheim

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $850.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.32% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on META. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $872.00 to $908.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $837.09.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded down $7.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $667.59. 3,708,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,513,954. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $517.50 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $627.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $650.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 29.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 166,117 shares of company stock valued at $106,367,778 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after buying an additional 13,311 shares in the last quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after buying an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to push upside on AI-driven ad monetization: UBS raised its price target to $908, arguing GenAI will materially lift ad revenue and margins. UBS Hikes Meta Platforms’ Target From $872 to $908
• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy and high price target (around $920), highlighting Meta’s AI investments that could enhance core advertising performance. This Is the Impact of AI on Meta Platforms (META) Core Advertising Business
• Positive Sentiment: Meta extended and deepened its AI partnership with Broadcom into 2029, strengthening its stack for large-scale model training and inference. Broadcom & Meta Extend AI Pact Into 2029 as Shares Climb to $400 (META)
• Positive Sentiment: CapEx and infrastructure expansion: Meta broke ground on a >$1B data center in Tulsa, underscoring heavy AI infrastructure spending to support future growth. Meta breaks ground on over $1 billion data center in Oklahoma’s Tulsa
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q1 earnings: previews expect continued revenue growth and potential upside from AI monetization — this is a near-term catalyst investors are watching. Meta Q1 Earnings Preview: AI Expansion And Its Ad Business, Shares Fairly Valued
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Oliván disclosed Rule 10b5?1 sales in April (pre?arranged plan), which investors typically treat as non?informational but note for supply dynamics. SEC filing: Javier Oliván stock sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional flows: Some funds (e.g., Manitou Investment) have recently added to their META holdings, signaling continued institutional interest. Manitou Investment Management Boosts Meta Platforms Stake
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and employee backlash risk: Multiple outlets report Meta will record employees’ keystrokes, clicks and mouse movements to train AI — a story that raises internal morale, regulatory and PR risks. Meta is tracking employee keystrokes on Google, LinkedIn, Wikipedia as part of AI training initiative
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and safety scrutiny: A consumer watchdog filed a class action claiming Meta profited from scam ads; separate shareholder proposals call for expanded ESG disclosures and tie executive pay to safety — these increase regulatory/legal tail risks. Consumer watchdog group files suit alleging Meta profited on ads for scams Meta Faces New ESG Pressures As Board Shifts And Shares Screen Undervalued

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.