Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Rating Upgraded by Erste Group Bank

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) was upgraded by analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $644.86 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $654.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $681.65. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $26,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. 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: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell‑side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high‑profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit‑taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. Read More.

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.