Wedbush Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $671.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 1.51% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $681.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $601.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $626.86. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. The trade was a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,503 shares of company stock worth $24,241,859 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the second quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,849 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,801,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. City National Bank of Florida MSD boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 47.7% in the second quarter. City National Bank of Florida MSD now owns 3,859 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,915,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 4,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Bank increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bell Bank now owns 21,773 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,265,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is being praised for strong AI and advertising fundamentals, with bulls arguing that its massive user base and “AI economy” position support continued earnings power. Why I Won’t Stop Buying Meta Before September
• Positive Sentiment: Meta continues to be viewed as a key beneficiary of AI buildout, with reports pointing to its custom-chip efforts and large-scale computing expansion as signs of long-term strategic strength. How Meta Platforms (META) Is Strengthening Its AI Infrastructure With Custom Chips and Massive Computing Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reportedly tied to growing demand for AI data-center capacity, including chatter that it may have been in advanced discussions for CleanSpark’s Sandersville site, reinforcing expectations for heavy infrastructure spending. Reference article
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta will report second-quarter 2026 results on July 29, and investors are likely waiting for that update to confirm whether ad growth and AI spending are translating into sustained earnings and cash flow. Meta to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing legal and reputational overhang from lawsuits alleging it used AI-driven tools to target employees on leave during layoffs, which could create headline risk even if the financial impact is limited. Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, former employees’ lawsuit claims

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.