Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $800.00 at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered Meta’s price target from $850 to $800 but maintained a “buy” rating, implying roughly 50% upside from the reported $533 share price. The broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with a $797.70 target.
• Meta shares fell 9% to $533 after quarterly EPS of $6.18 missed the $7.19 consensus, although revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion and exceeded expectations.
• Investor concerns center on Meta’s substantial AI investment: planned capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion, rising data-center lease obligations and unclear timing for AI monetization are weighing on sentiment.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at Citigroup from $850.00 to $800.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the social networking company's stock. Citigroup's price target would suggest a potential upside of 50.09% from the stock's current price.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, 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. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $797.70.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 9.0%

META traded down $52.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $533.00. 30,863,351 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,804,207. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company's fifty day moving average price is $603.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $624.24. The company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% 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 sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $27,789,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of approximately $60.2 billion. Advertising trends remained healthy, with ad impressions, pricing and Instagram engagement benefiting from AI-powered recommendations. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings despite reducing their price targets. Truist, TD Cowen, DA Davidson, Cantor Fitzgerald and others still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s risk-reward profile if advertising growth continues. Analyst Price Target Updates
• Positive Sentiment: Meta highlighted potential longer-term monetization opportunities, including enterprise AI agents, new AI-enabled applications and possibly leasing excess computing capacity to outside customers. WhatsApp also reported record usage during the FIFA World Cup final. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: India summoned Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident adds regulatory and political scrutiny in a strategically important market, though no material financial impact was reported. India summons Meta executives
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings per share of $6.18 missed consensus estimates near $7.20 and fell from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal and severance charges, along with higher operating costs, weighed heavily on profit. Meta’s Stock Tumbles After Profits Disappoint
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on capital expenditures this year, while operating cash flow was largely absorbed by AI infrastructure spending. Future lease obligations tied mainly to AI data centers reached $279 billion, up 53% in three months, intensifying concerns about cash flow, margins and balance-sheet risk. Meta narrows annual capex forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the roughly $63.2 billion analyst consensus. Investors also remain unconvinced that Meta has offered a clear timeline for converting its AI spending into meaningful incremental revenue. Meta leaves investors wanting more on AI monetization timeline

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.

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