Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 2.3% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) were up 2.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $670.56 and last traded at $664.45. Approximately 19,006,375 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 15,537,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $649.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reported to be developing new multimodal AI — an image/video model codenamed “Mango” and a text model called “Avocado” targeted for H1‑2026, which could accelerate product differentiation and ad/engagement upgrades. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: U.S. federal action on AI (an executive order to create a national AI framework) is being viewed as a net positive for Big Tech — it could reduce a patchwork of state rules and lower compliance complexity for large platforms like Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush trimmed its price target from $920 to $880 but kept an “outperform” rating — the cut tempers upside expectations but the firm still implies substantial upside vs. current levels. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Austrias Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered sweeping user‑data access changes across the EU — this is a binding precedent that raises regulatory, compliance and revenue risk in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders (including General Counsel Jennifer Newstead and COO Javier Olivan) have sold blocks of shares in recent weeks — repeated insider sales can be perceived negatively by the market even if amounts are small relative to overall holdings. Read More. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $818.59.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $659.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $707.02.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total transaction of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock valued at $26,478,698 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.