Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives Buy Rating from Bank of America

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $781.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $777.59 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $779.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $613.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $612.10.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This trade represents a 34.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher Cox sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.76, for a total transaction of $28,510,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 184,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $131,515,624.16. This trade represents a 17.82% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 123,333 shares of company stock valued at $80,795,845 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 372,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $209,870,000 after purchasing an additional 19,353 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 119,557 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $67,330,000 after purchasing an additional 7,184 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,236,516 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,823,088,000 after purchasing an additional 64,136 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,841,811,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners grew its position in Meta Platforms by 13.9% in the second quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 74,799 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $42,134,000 after purchasing an additional 9,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse is strengthening Meta’s AI growth story. Muse reportedly reached the top of Apple’s U.S. free-app rankings, with early usage exceeding comparable early adoption for ChatGPT. Investors see the agent as a potential new platform for subscriptions, advertising, commerce and business services. Meta’s Muse AI Has Wall Street Seeing Billion-Dollar Possibilities
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are raising price targets. KeyCorp lifted its target to $900 from $780, Cantor Fitzgerald raised its target to $860 from $680, and JPMorgan increased its target to $920 from $820 while maintaining bullish ratings. The upgrades reflect expectations that AI agents could become a major additional growth curve for Meta. Meta stock rises as analysts raise price targets
• Positive Sentiment: AI distribution is expanding across commerce and hardware. Meta is integrating Muse with Shopify’s Shop Pay and bringing it to Ray-Ban AI glasses, a handheld Muse Charm device and new VR products. These initiatives could create transaction-based revenue and reduce Meta’s reliance on advertising over time. Meta gets to consumer AI device market before OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong momentum is offset by a demanding valuation. Meta’s market capitalization is approaching $2 trillion and the stock is near its 52-week high. Continued gains will depend on converting Muse’s early popularity into durable revenue and profits.
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending and execution risks remain significant. Capital expenditures are projected to rise sharply, while free cash flow has weakened. Reality Labs has accumulated more than $85 billion in losses, and the success of new AI hardware is unproven. Meta Has Lost More Than $85 Billion on Its Glasses and Headsets
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and regulatory concerns could limit monetization. Amazon has blocked Muse from accessing its site, while privacy criticism surrounding AI glasses and ongoing scrutiny of Meta’s handling of underage users remain potential overhangs.

About Meta Platforms

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.