Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the forty-eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have issued a buy recommendation and five have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $829.6591.

META has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. This trade represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $9,062,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,394,225. This trade represents a 86.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 213,665 shares of company stock valued at $164,581,886 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Csenge Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,614,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the period. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $738.36 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $742.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $692.08. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $479.80 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.