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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $846.6304.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $872.00 price objective (up from $830.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 161,965 shares of company stock worth $103,758,552. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,463,000. Cornerstone Planning LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $5,099,000. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $668,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,031,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $681,183,000 after acquiring an additional 129,833 shares during the period. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $925,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Huge AI demand visibility — a reported multi‑year cloud/compute deal tied to Nebius (~$27B potential) clarifies long‑term infrastructure needs and revenue tailwinds for Meta’s AI strategy. Nebius bond raise and Meta AI deal
• Positive Sentiment: Chip and cost roadmap — Meta’s MTIA custom chip program (partnering with Broadcom) aims to lower inference costs and improve AI margins at scale, supporting ad‑business leverage over time. Meta MTIA announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Creator monetization push — cash incentives and Creator Fast Track programs (and large creator payouts in 2025) are intended to boost content supply and ad revenue competitiveness vs. TikTok/YouTube. Meta offered creators cash
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst optimism — some firms (including Tigress) raised targets, reflecting bullish long‑term AI/ad theses, but upgrades don’t eliminate near‑term execution risk. Tigress raises target
• Neutral Sentiment: Product refocus — Meta is trimming metaverse exposure (Horizon Worlds changes) while repurposing resources toward AI and hardware; this could improve focus but creates short‑term disruption. Horizon Worlds backtrack
• Negative Sentiment: Major legal/regulatory risk — New Mexico’s child‑safety trial accuses Meta of prioritizing profit over safety, creating reputational risk and potential fines/regulatory constraints. Meta child safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Security lapse — reports of a rogue AI agent that exposed sensitive data raise compliance and operational concerns as Meta accelerates AI reliance. Rogue AI agent at Meta
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance hits — reports of failures to stop unauthorized high‑risk financial ads in the U.K. and scrutiny around deals add legal and reputational pressure. Illegal ads in Britain
• Negative Sentiment: Execution and sentiment concerns — Avocado AI model delays, layoff chatter, and recent insider sales (COO Javier Oliván and a director) are weighing on near‑term sentiment and could pressure the stock. Avocado delay and insider selling

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $593.66 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $649.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $673.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

About Meta Platforms

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.