Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $822.4091.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $750.47, for a total value of $389,493.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,427 shares in the company, valued at $24,335,490.69. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. The trade was a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 312,767 shares of company stock worth $234,716,347. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $738.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $736.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $657.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.