Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Key Points

• Jefferies reiterated a Buy on Meta with a $910 price objective—about a 48% upside from the prior close—while the Street consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average target near $821.55.
• Meta recently beat Q3/Oct earnings expectations (EPS $7.25 vs. $6.74) and revenue rose ~26% to $51.24 billion, and management highlights—like global ad rollout for Threads, in‑house AI models, and infrastructure partnerships—support the revenue and monetization outlook.
• Near‑term headwinds include insider selling, several analyst downgrades, regulatory/legal overhang (FTC appeal, UK ad issues) and execution risks from Reality Labs layoffs and the Manus acquisition fallout that could pressure sentiment.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $910.00 price objective on the social networking company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target indicates a potential upside of 48.46% from the company's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on META. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $821.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $612.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $640.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $697.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company's revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,876,738.02. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 40,115 shares of company stock worth $24,741,055 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta will begin showing ads on Threads globally next week — a direct monetization lever for a platform that now reports 400M+ active users; this boosts the ad-revenue outlook if engagement scales. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated a Buy and said market “AI fears” are largely priced in — a supportive institutional view that can stabilize sentiment amid spending concerns. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI lab has delivered its first in‑house models, per the CTO — evidence of progress on proprietary AI capability that underpins long‑term monetization and infrastructure investments. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Oklo nuclear partnership to power data centers viewed by some analysts as de‑risking Meta’s infrastructure plans — could reduce energy/capex uncertainty for large-scale compute. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS trimmed its price target from $915 to $830 but kept a Buy rating — reduces upside vs. prior street targets but retains institutional support (mixed signal). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Street is focused on upcoming earnings and 2026 CapEx guidance — results/guidance next week could be the next major catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Note on semiconductor/compute supply chain: analyst pieces highlight Meta Compute and TSMC/Broadcom links — Meta’s capex plan matters for partners and for how investors view long‑term unit economics. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst downgrade earlier this week triggered a short-term selloff (price weakness reported), pressuring sentiment into today’s session. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: director Robert Kimmitt sold 580 shares (disclosed) — small in size but often cited by traders as a near-term negative signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Hedge fund rebalancing: Cypress Funds trimmed its stake — additional institutional selling that can add pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal overhang persists: the FTC will appeal the earlier antitrust ruling and UK authorities have flagged illegal gambling ads — ongoing regulatory risk could cap multiple expansion. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational moves: layoffs in Reality Labs and fallout from the Manus acquisition (some customers walked) underscore execution and reputational risks tied to AI/metaverse bets. Read More. • Read More.

About Meta Platforms

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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