Meta Platforms’ (META) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Bank of America in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $810.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 4.17% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on META. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $796.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (down from $850.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $780.12.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $33.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $777.59. The stock had a trading volume of 34,689,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,452,756. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $610.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $611.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 27.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 946 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.27, for a total value of $643,535.42. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,646,237.90. The trade was a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total value of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 123,333 shares of company stock valued at $80,795,845. 13.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Watchman Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the first quarter. Watchman Group Inc. now owns 5,091 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Penney Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the first quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 399 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the first quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $869,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the first quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 985 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tenzing Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Tenzing Financial LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse adoption is strengthening Meta’s AI growth narrative. Muse reportedly reached approximately 642,000 daily U.S. users during its first 12 days, compared with 231,000 for ChatGPT at a similar stage. Analysts believe the agent could eventually support subscriptions, advertising, commerce and small-business services. Meta unveils Muse Charm handheld device as AI agent’s user base grows
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street raised its expectations. JPMorgan increased its price target to $920 and maintained an overweight rating. Tigress Financial raised its target to $995, while Loop Capital lifted its target to $955. The analysts view Muse as a potentially significant new growth platform, with some comparisons to ChatGPT’s market impact. Meta stock rises as analysts raise price targets
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding Muse into commerce and hardware. The company unveiled the pocket-sized Muse Charm device, camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses and new virtual-reality glasses. Partnerships with Shopify and other commerce providers could allow Meta to earn transaction-related revenue through AI-assisted purchases. Meta gets to consumer AI device market before OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was zero shares, with a zero-day short-interest ratio. While this suggests little measurable short-selling pressure, the report conflicts with its description of a large increase in short interest and may reflect incomplete or unreliable data.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about execution and valuation. Amazon has blocked Muse from accessing its shopping site, reactions to the Charm hardware have been mixed, and privacy concerns surrounding AI devices could limit adoption. Meta’s heavy AI infrastructure spending and rising capital expenditures may also pressure cash flow. Recent insider sales under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and the stock’s sharp rally add to near-term pullback risk. Meta’s Muse Charm device faces mixed reactions

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.