Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns “Hold” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $615.58 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $600.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $627.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,513 shares of company stock valued at $24,419,874. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta Platforms (META) from “hold” to “buy,” reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Image, a new AI image-generation tool from Meta Superintelligence Labs, which could improve engagement with advertisers, creators, and subscribers across Facebook and Instagram. Meta rolls out Muse, a new AI image generator
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Meta is exploring leasing excess data-center capacity suggest a potential new revenue stream tied to its AI infrastructure investments. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Just Delivered Fantastic News for Investors
• Positive Sentiment: Lazada joined Meta’s affiliate partnerships program, expanding social commerce tools in Southeast Asia and potentially strengthening monetization on Facebook and Instagram. Lazada Joins Meta’s Affiliate Partnerships Programme to Streamline Social Shopping in Southeast Asia
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary about Meta potentially entering cloud computing/neocloud markets is strategically interesting, but it remains speculative and not yet a proven earnings driver. If Meta Pushes Into Cloud Computing, Should Investors Care?
• Negative Sentiment: France’s antitrust watchdog ordered Meta to resume talks with media groups over publishing fees, adding another regulatory dispute in Europe. French antitrust watchdog orders Meta resume talks with media groups over publishing fees
• Negative Sentiment: Meta also disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking about $1.4 trillion in penalties in a youth-safety trial, a huge legal risk that is likely weighing on investor sentiment. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of regulatory scrutiny in India over harmful ads on Instagram add to concerns about content moderation and platform safety risks. Meta Exposed for Approving Child Sexual Abuse Ads on Instagram in India

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.