Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded at Arete Research

Key Points

• Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms from “hold” to “strong-buy,” reinforcing a generally positive analyst outlook despite some mixed views from other firms.
• Meta’s latest earnings were strong, with EPS of $10.44 beating estimates and revenue of $56.31 billion rising 33.1% year over year.
• Shares were trading around $597.63, while analysts currently see a consensus target price of $840.60, suggesting upside from current levels.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Arete Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Wedbush raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $597.63 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $617.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $636.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $608.98, for a total transaction of $509,716.26. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,823 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,417,930.54. The trade was a 5.71% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,890 shares of company stock worth $25,315,558. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with analysts including RBC reiterating an outperform view and setting a higher price target, suggesting investors still see meaningful upside in Meta’s core ad and AI businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: A new study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies adopting AI, reinforcing the market’s view that AI remains a key long-term growth driver for the company.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also announced broader teen-safety controls and new Instagram features aimed at safer, more age-appropriate feeds, which may help ease concerns around user safety and regulation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Meta as a long-term growth or value stock, reflecting continued investor interest but not a clear near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is dialing back its plan to collect employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes for AI training after staff pushback, underscoring internal resistance to how aggressively the company is pursuing AI data collection. Exclusive: Meta scales back AI mouse clicks tool, citing employee concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Hackers reportedly tricked Meta’s AI chatbot into helping them access Instagram accounts, raising fresh concerns about product security and trust in Meta’s AI systems. They tricked Meta's chatbot to hack into Instagram accounts. It's a warning about how much we trust AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta continues to face regulatory and legal pressure over scam ads and child-safety issues, including coordinated European complaints and a proposed group legal action in the UK, which could add compliance costs and reputational risk.

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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