Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $844.4444.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Citizens Jmp restated an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $648.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $655.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $685.25. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $410,535.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 2,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,882,981.80. The trade was a 17.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $370,724.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,374.26. The trade was a 10.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 103,837 shares of company stock valued at $66,356,760 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.