TD Cowen Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• TD Cowen reiterated a "Buy" rating on Meta with an $820 price target (implying ~22% upside); the Street consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target near $837.72 amid mixed analyst target moves up to $900 and down to $800.
• Meta posted a strong quarter — $8.88 EPS vs. $8.16 expected and $59.89B revenue (up 23.8% year‑over‑year) — supporting a $1.7T market cap and continued analyst expectations for earnings growth.
• Positive catalysts include a multi‑year Broadcom AI silicon partnership and strengthening ad leadership, while EU antitrust scrutiny, litigation risks and recent insider selling represent near‑term headwinds.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by stock analysts at TD Cowen in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $820.00 target price on the social networking company's stock. TD Cowen's target price points to a potential upside of 22.10% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $837.72.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $671.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.31. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $626.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $652.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,797,952.54. This represents a 11.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,499 shares of company stock worth $105,237,895. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Broadcom partnership — Meta struck a multi‑year agreement to deploy custom AI silicon (initial 1+ gigawatt commitment) and networking support through 2029, a direct accelerant for Meta’s in‑house AI compute buildout and a major near‑term catalyst for investor optimism. Meta inks deal with Broadcom for custom AI chips (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Ad leadership thesis strengthens — eMarketer projects Meta to overtake Google as the top digital ad seller by net revenue this year, supporting upside to revenue and margins if trends persist. Meta stock trades up after eMarketer projection (Yahoo)
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst/market views — Morgan Stanley named META a top Big Tech pick with a $775 target and other research houses highlight Meta as a growth/AI beneficiary, underpinning demand for shares. Meta top pick for tech earnings (Barron's)
• Positive Sentiment: AI capex & strategic positioning — Coverage highlights Meta’s aggressive AI investment plans (reported 2026 AI-related capex range cited), which supports the narrative of long‑term leadership in AI infrastructure and monetization. Meta investing heavily in AI (Yahoo)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reality Labs reorganization — Meta is restructuring Reality Labs to speed execution and created an Applied AI Engineering unit; could improve capital efficiency but outcomes are uncertain. Reality Labs changes to speed progress (PYMNTS)
• Neutral Sentiment: Internal AI initiatives — Meta is developing internal AI tools (including a photorealistic Zuckerberg replica for employees); interesting for productivity but limited direct revenue impact. Meta builds AI replica of Zuckerberg (ProactiveInvestors)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust pressure on WhatsApp AI access — The European Commission says Meta’s WhatsApp fee may breach rules and has ordered rollback of restrictions that limit rival AI chatbots, a regulatory risk to Meta’s product strategy and potential fines or mandates. EU warns Meta WhatsApp AI fee breaches antitrust rules (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/class‑action risk in Italy — A Milan court allowed a class action over Facebook data scraping, adding potential litigation exposure and reputational risk in Europe. Italy court allows class action (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling disclosed — COO Javier Oliván executed Rule 10b5‑1 sales reducing his stake; while preplanned, insider sales can attract short‑term attention. COO insider sales SEC filing

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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