Guggenheim Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $850.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Guggenheim‘s price target points to a potential upside of 31.00% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $865.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $860.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $955.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $833.12.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $48.67 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $648.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,283,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,657,748. The company has a 50 day moving average of $662.27 and a 200 day moving average of $629.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $779.82.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $64.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 27.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 27,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $777.44, for a total transaction of $21,359,386.56. 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. Insiders sold a total of 149,906 shares of company stock valued at $102,347,409 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Horizons Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $33,000. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $28,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $32,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Schuylkill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26.1% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $7.40 per share, exceeding Wall Street estimates. Advertising growth, higher ad prices and AI-driven improvements in targeting and engagement supported the results. META’s Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Meta said its Muse AI assistant surpassed 10 million users shortly after launch, strengthening the long-term case for AI-related advertising, commerce and subscription revenue. Analysts including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Pivotal Research raised their price targets, maintaining bullish ratings. Meta falls as investors balance Muse growth with rising AI costs
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta announced a new non-voting Class C share structure intended to help finance its AI buildout without reducing Mark Zuckerberg’s voting control. The move could provide funding flexibility, but investors are evaluating potential dilution and governance implications. Meta to issue new class of shares
• Negative Sentiment: Meta raised the lower end of its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to $135 billion, with spending potentially reaching $145 billion. The investment pushed quarterly free cash flow negative, prompting concerns that AI returns may take longer to justify the infrastructure bill. Meta stock sinks as AI spend pushes free cash flow negative
• Negative Sentiment: Credit-default-swap prices for Meta reached a record high, signaling increased concern about balance-sheet and financing risk as the company considers funding its AI expansion. The market reaction also weighed on power-equipment suppliers tied to Meta’s data-center spending. Bond market warning on Meta’s borrowing
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico court ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in a Cambridge Analytica-related privacy case; the company plans to appeal. Separately, Meta faces an Australian class-action lawsuit alleging that its platforms harm children, adding to regulatory and litigation uncertainty. Meta ordered to pay $25 billion to New Mexico

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.