Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain broadly bullish: Forty-seven analysts give Meta a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, including 34 buys and four strong buys, with an average 12-month price target of approximately $787.54.
• Meta reported quarterly revenue of $60.8 billion, up 28% year over year and above estimates, although earnings per share of $6.18 missed the $7.19 consensus forecast.
• AI offers significant upside potential through products such as Muse and possible infrastructure opportunities, but adoption, privacy, regulatory and execution risks remain. Meta also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, equivalent to a 0.3% yield.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-four have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $787.5366.

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.03 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $790.80. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $601.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $608.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,838 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.71, for a total transaction of $1,750,222.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 11,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,192,072.02. This trade represents a 19.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 61,581 shares of company stock valued at $37,512,295. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 553 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Watchman Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Penney Financial LLC lifted 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 valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $869,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 gains early consumer traction: Meta’s new AI agent reportedly reached No. 2 or No. 3 on the U.S. App Store shortly after its launch. Muse can interact with social platforms and outside services, while paid tiers priced at $20 and $100 per month create a potential new revenue stream beyond advertising. Meta's AI agent Muse is now the No. 2 app in the US
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan upgraded the stock: JPMorgan raised Meta to Overweight from Neutral and increased its price target to $820, citing meaningful growth potential from frontier AI models and agentic products. The upgrade helped reinforce the bullish view that Meta can diversify beyond advertising. JPMorgan upgrades Meta on AI models and agents
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure optionality: Analysts believe Meta’s large AI-compute investments could eventually support a cloud-computing or infrastructure business, adding an opportunity not currently reflected in the valuation. The company’s strong revenue growth and substantial cash resources support this investment thesis.
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly dividend declared: Meta announced a $0.525-per-share dividend payable September 28 to shareholders of record September 21. While the yield is modest, the payout signals confidence in ongoing cash generation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Legal settlement viewed as manageable: Commentary suggests Meta’s potential $18 billion social-media-addiction settlement, spread over a decade, may have a limited impact on annual free cash flow. Resolving the litigation could also remove an overhang, but the headline liability remains material.
• Negative Sentiment: Monetization and privacy concerns: Muse’s usefulness depends on access to users’ inboxes, accounts and payments, raising adoption and privacy questions. Analysts remain uncertain about conversion rates and near-term revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution and regulatory risks: A prominent AI researcher is leaving Meta for Anthropic, while an internal effort to capture employee screens for AI training reportedly triggered resistance. Meta is also discussing possible teen social-media restrictions in South Korea, and TikTok rejected Meta advertisements urging participation in a child-safety settlement.

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.

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