Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded by Phillip Securities to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on META. Barclays lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $671.00 to $595.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $587.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $600.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $622.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 28.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 37,770 shares of company stock valued at $23,034,051 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Phillip Securities upgraded Meta to “strong-buy,” providing a fresh bullish catalyst and signaling confidence that the recent weakness has created an attractive entry point. Zacks.com
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary argues that investors may be overreacting to Meta’s infrastructure spending. The company still delivered 28% year-over-year revenue growth to $60.8 billion, while AI investments are improving user engagement and advertising performance. Some analysts see substantial upside from current valuation levels. 28% Revenue Growth Ignored: Why Panic-Selling Meta Stock Over Infrastructure Spend Is a Mistake
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is expected to meet with White House advisers alongside other leading AI companies regarding voluntary safety testing for advanced models. The meeting could improve regulatory cooperation, although it also highlights growing scrutiny of AI risks. Meta, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI to meet with Trump White House amid rogue AI agent fallout
• Negative Sentiment: AI capital commitments are a major overhang. Meta and other Big Tech companies have committed approximately $1.09 trillion in future lease payments, primarily for data centers. Investors remain concerned that the spending could pressure margins before AI monetization fully catches up. AI data-centre race builds $1 trillion lease burden for Big Tech
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s latest results were mixed: quarterly earnings of $6.18 per share missed estimates of $7.19, and next-quarter revenue guidance reportedly came in below expectations. In India, a dispute involving a video of Prime Minister Modi raises the possibility of losing “safe harbour” protections, which could increase legal and compliance exposure. What happens if Meta loses its safe harbour protection in India

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.