Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns Buy Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, September 16th, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $886.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target indicates a potential upside of 13.94% from the company’s current price.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $793.16.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $33.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $777.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 34,496,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,430,689. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $610.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $611.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $779.82. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 27.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, 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 sold a total of 123,333 shares of company stock worth $80,795,845 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,957,946,000 after purchasing an additional 7,732,446 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $2,948,486,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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 strengthening Meta’s AI growth story. Muse reportedly reached the top of Apple’s U.S. free-app rankings, while Apptopia estimated 642,000 U.S. daily active users during its first 12 days—well ahead of ChatGPT’s early mobile adoption. Raymond James analysts suggested Meta’s AI-agent opportunity could eventually become a $50 billion business. Why Meta Platforms Stock Keeps Going Up
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their expectations for META. JPMorgan increased its price target to $920 and maintained an overweight rating. Tigress Financial raised its target to $995, Loop Capital to $955, Citizens JMP to $885, and President Capital upgraded the stock to buy with an $897 target. Analysts view AI agents as a potential new growth curve beyond advertising. Meta stock rises as analysts raise price targets
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding AI monetization and hardware distribution. Muse is being integrated with Shopify’s Shop Pay for agent-driven commerce and will be available through new wearables. Meta announced the camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, $1,299 Meta VR Glasses and the pocket-sized Muse Charm device, creating potential revenue streams from commerce, subscriptions, advertising and hardware. Meta debuts new VR glasses and Muse Charm
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm has pushed valuation and expectations higher. META has risen sharply over the past month and trades near its 52-week high, making continued execution and evidence of monetization increasingly important.
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment and competitive risks remain significant. Reports point to collapsing free cash flow and capital expenditures approaching $145 billion, raising questions about whether Muse will generate sufficient returns. Amazon has blocked Muse from accessing its shopping inventory, and mixed reactions to the Charm device highlight the risk of another unsuccessful AI hardware product. Meta’s AI spending and valuation risks
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy and regulatory scrutiny could limit adoption. Camera-equipped glasses and AI agents continue to face concerns over recording, data use and security, while Meta also faces legal uncertainty related to the use of user data by advertising partners.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.