Cantor Fitzgerald Has Lowered Expectations for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from $770.00 to $680.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price points to a potential upside of 22.15% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $890.00 to $730.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $671.00 to $595.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $789.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:META opened at $556.71 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $601.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $622.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate. Meta: Buy The AI Spending Panic
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already improving ad performance, personalization and user engagement. Meta also highlighted potential enterprise AI products, personal AI agents and new applications. Buy Meta’s Earnings Drop
• Positive Sentiment: Despite reductions, major firms retained bullish ratings and price targets, including UBS at $715, Baird at $750, Cantor Fitzgerald at $680 and Rosenblatt at $883. The targets imply substantial long-term upside if Meta converts AI spending into monetization. Meta Given New Price Target at Baird
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings miss was partly affected by approximately $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance costs. Excluding these items, supporters argue that underlying profitability was healthier, but reported margins still declined.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta reported $6.18 in quarterly EPS, below expectations near $7.19, while free cash flow fell to only $784 million from $31.9 billion in operating cash flow as AI data-center capital expenditures surged. Investors remain unconvinced that the spending will generate adequate returns soon. Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag
• Negative Sentiment: Future AI-related lease obligations reached $279 billion, increasing concerns about balance-sheet commitments and execution risk. Additional legal and regulatory pressure includes a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that social-media companies harmed minors, plus an Indian police case involving Meta’s India chief over Facebook posts depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s AI Splurge Lays Bare Its Compute Conundrum

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.