Monness Crespi & Hardt Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $890.00 to $730.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt’s target price indicates a potential upside of 24.66% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 28th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $825.86.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of META stock opened at $585.61 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $603.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $624.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,376.50. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,789,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding expectations of approximately $60.2 billion. Advertising revenue, ad impressions and average pricing also showed solid growth, while Instagram usage rose by double digits as AI-powered recommendations improved personalization. Meta narrows annual capex forecast, as AI buildout grows
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Reality Labs operating loss exceeded $4.6 billion but was narrower than analysts expected. The company is also exploring ways to monetize excess computing capacity, including potential enterprise customers, which could eventually help offset AI infrastructure costs. Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its Buy rating and $800 price target, while at least one analyst argued that the post-earnings selloff overlooks the strength of Meta’s advertising business and the one-time nature of legal and severance charges. Guggenheim Reaffirms Buy Rating for Meta Platforms
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is partnering with BlackRock on a roughly $14 billion El Paso, Texas, data-center project. The joint venture can reduce Meta’s upfront balance-sheet burden while securing future AI capacity, but the company remains exposed to long-term lease and asset-value obligations. Meta, BlackRock form $14 billion venture to develop AI data center campus in Texas
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below the roughly $7.19 consensus and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal costs of about $2.4 billion and $1.2 billion in severance contributed to the miss, but investors are more concerned that capital expenditures consumed nearly all of Meta’s $31.9 billion in operating cash flow, sharply reducing free cash flow. Meta misses profit expectations, sticks to massive AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and related infrastructure in 2026. Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint, reinforcing fears that spending, borrowing needs and infrastructure costs are rising faster than monetization. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

About Meta Platforms

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.