Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Cut to $750.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective lowered by Robert W. Baird from $830.00 to $750.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective points to a potential upside of 40.08% from the stock’s previous close.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $795.89.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $50.21 on Thursday, reaching $535.40. 31,878,409 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,813,016. The company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $603.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $624.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,376.50. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $27,789,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of approximately $60.2 billion. Advertising trends remained healthy, with ad impressions, pricing and Instagram engagement benefiting from AI-powered recommendations. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings despite reducing their price targets. Truist, TD Cowen, DA Davidson, Cantor Fitzgerald and others still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s risk-reward profile if advertising growth continues. Analyst Price Target Updates
• Positive Sentiment: Meta highlighted potential longer-term monetization opportunities, including enterprise AI agents, new AI-enabled applications and possibly leasing excess computing capacity to outside customers. WhatsApp also reported record usage during the FIFA World Cup final. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: India summoned Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident adds regulatory and political scrutiny in a strategically important market, though no material financial impact was reported. India summons Meta executives
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings per share of $6.18 missed consensus estimates near $7.20 and fell from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal and severance charges, along with higher operating costs, weighed heavily on profit. Meta’s Stock Tumbles After Profits Disappoint
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on capital expenditures this year, while operating cash flow was largely absorbed by AI infrastructure spending. Future lease obligations tied mainly to AI data centers reached $279 billion, up 53% in three months, intensifying concerns about cash flow, margins and balance-sheet risk. Meta narrows annual capex forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the roughly $63.2 billion analyst consensus. Investors also remain unconvinced that Meta has offered a clear timeline for converting its AI spending into meaningful incremental revenue. Meta leaves investors wanting more on AI monetization timeline

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.