Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Meta Platforms, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 47 analysts, with 39 recommending a buy and 3 a strong buy, and an average price target of $822.41.
• Insider trading activity includes a sale of 519 shares by Jennifer Newstead and 18,332 shares by CFO Susan J. Li, indicating a total insider sale of 312,767 shares in the last three months, representing a decrease in ownership.
• Meta's Q2 earnings report showed an EPS of $7.14, surpassing expectations and reflecting a 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth to nearly $47.52 billion.

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $822.4091.

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. HSBC upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total transaction of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. The trade was a 20.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 312,767 shares of company stock valued at $234,716,347 in the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 1,846 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $3.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $735.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,294,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,485,708. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $736.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $657.96. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.