Meta Platforms’ (META) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Rosenblatt Securities

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $886.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 32.19% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $788.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $670.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $603.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.04. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $790.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $650.28, for a total value of $13,005,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 244,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,003,864.48. The trade was a 7.56% 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 three months, insiders have sold 60,183 shares of company stock valued at $36,673,495. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd now owns 18,777 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,577,000 after buying an additional 2,939 shares during the last quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $876,000. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $352,101,000 after purchasing an additional 29,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: New AI subscription revenue opportunity: Meta launched Meta One, with plans ranging from $2.99 to $499 per month. The service offers higher usage limits for Meta AI tools, image and video creation features, and premium functionality across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Investors view the rollout as an early step toward recurring AI revenue beyond advertising. Meta launches subscriptions with enhanced AI features
• Positive Sentiment: AI commercialization is broadening: Meta is allowing AI agents to help businesses set up and manage WhatsApp Business messaging, potentially improving monetization and adoption among commercial users. Analysts have also highlighted improving AI-driven advertising and the possibility of meaningful revenue from the Muse AI platform. Meta now lets AI agents handle WhatsApp Business setup
• Positive Sentiment: Potentially lower dependence on Nvidia: Reports say Meta plans to expand the use of cheaper, proprietary AI chips. If successful, the initiative could reduce hardware costs and supply-chain dependence while supporting Meta’s large AI infrastructure buildout. Meta plans cheaper in-house AI chips
• Neutral Sentiment: AI safety stance: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta delayed its Muse AI agent for several months to address safety and security issues and favors independent evaluators and advisers rather than a broad industry slowdown. The position may reduce release-related risk, but it also underscores the regulatory and liability challenges surrounding frontier AI. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on AI safety
• Neutral Sentiment: New hardware expansion: Meta reportedly plans to launch camera-free Luna smart glasses this fall, adding another potential AI and consumer-device growth avenue. Execution, adoption and privacy concerns remain uncertain. Meta camera-free smart glasses report
• Negative Sentiment: Spending and regulatory risks persist: Meta’s aggressive AI infrastructure investment is increasing fixed costs and could pressure free cash flow if advertising growth or AI utilization disappoints. Separately, California restrictions on youth-oriented advertising practices and lawsuits involving alleged facial-recognition features could create additional legal costs and regulatory risk. Meta legal and regulatory risks

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.