Monness Crespi & Hardt Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Key Points

• Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Meta’s price target from $730 to $830 and maintained a “buy” rating, implying 10.42% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with Meta receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $787.86 from MarketBeat.
• Meta’s latest quarter showed 28% year-over-year revenue growth to $60.8 billion, although earnings of $6.18 per share missed the $7.19 consensus estimate; insiders sold $80.8 million of stock over the past three months.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $730.00 to $830.00 in a report released on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt's price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.42% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $796.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. New Street Research reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $787.86.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $751.66 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $615.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $612.83. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year 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 - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 27.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total transaction of $2,002,514.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Christopher Cox sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was 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 owned 184,516 shares in the company, valued at $131,515,624.16. This trade represents a 17.82% 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 sold a total of 123,333 shares of company stock worth $80,795,845 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Schuylkill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI adoption is supporting the bullish case. Meta’s Muse personal AI agent is being tested for tasks such as budgeting, canceling unwanted subscriptions and booking travel. Analysts and investors view widespread adoption as a potential new engagement and monetization channel. Meta’s Muse agent is attacking one of the economy’s most profitable weak spots
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s AI and hardware strategy continues to attract optimism. The company is expanding Muse across its platforms, developing AI-powered games and launching new virtual-reality glasses with Muse integration. Meta’s planned AI investment—potentially as much as $145 billion in 2026—could strengthen its competitive position, although it also raises spending risks. Why Investors Should Be Bullish on Meta Platforms and Its AI Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and recent momentum remain favorable. Deutsche Bank, TD Cowen and Canaccord Genuity reportedly raised or maintained positive expectations for META. The stock’s strong September performance has also encouraged investors, with historical data showing prior months of gains of at least 20% were followed by additional gains a year later. Meta Stock Is Having Its Best Month Since 2013
• Neutral Sentiment: Brief platform outages appear financially manageable. A roughly one-hour Facebook and Instagram outage affected U.S. users, but the company’s advertising scale means a recurring short disruption is unlikely to materially alter near-term results unless outages become more frequent or damage advertiser confidence. Does Meta’s Advertising Scale Make Brief Outages Financially Irrelevant?
• Negative Sentiment: The major immediate overhang is a New Mexico jury verdict. A jury found Facebook misled residents about personal-data practices and concluded that more than 43 million consumer-protection violations occurred. Potential penalties reportedly could exceed $200 billion, though the ultimate amount and legal outcome remain uncertain. The ruling raises Meta’s litigation, privacy and regulatory risks. New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable for over 43 million violations
• Negative Sentiment: Trust and execution concerns could limit the AI premium. Coverage of Muse highlights Meta’s history of privacy concerns, while Amazon is reportedly blocking the assistant from shopping on its platform. At a valuation near $1.9 trillion, investors may demand evidence that substantial AI spending produces durable revenue growth rather than simply higher costs.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.