Meta Platforms’ (META) Market Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp restated their market outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $900.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $872.00 to $908.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $837.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $668.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day moving average is $627.32 and its 200-day moving average is $650.10. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $486.36 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 164,562 shares of company stock worth $105,310,238 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on META to $908, citing stronger GenAI-driven ad revenue potential and reaffirming a bullish view on the stock. UBS Hikes Meta Platforms’ Target From $872 to $908
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating with a ~$900 target, another analyst endorsement supporting upside expectations. Citizens Jmp rating reaffirmation
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom extended its AI partnership with Meta through 2029, signaling longer-term infrastructure support and reduced single-vendor risk for Meta’s AI buildout. Broadcom & Meta Extend AI Pact Into 2029
• Positive Sentiment: Meta broke ground on a >$1B data center in Tulsa and reserved up to 1 GW / 100 GWh of long-duration energy storage with Noon Energy — both moves underline heavy capex toward AI compute and resilience. Meta breaks ground on over $1 billion data center in Oklahoma’s Tulsa Noon Energy and Meta energy storage agreement
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and previews point to a high‑expectation Q1 print (guidance implies ~30%+ revenue growth); earnings on Apr 29 and guidance will be market catalysts but results are not yet known. Meta Q1 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America trimmed its price target to $820 but kept a Buy rating — a mixed signal: still constructive but slightly less aggressive than other shops. BofA trims Meta Platforms price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: a Meta director sold about $387k of stock — a small single sale that warrants noting but is not a major red flag by itself. Director stock sale
• Negative Sentiment: A consumer‑advocacy group filed a class-action complaint alleging Meta profited from scam ads and misled users about enforcement — renewed legal and regulatory risk that can pressure multiples and lead to costs. Consumer watchdog group files suit alleging Meta profited on ads for scams
• Negative Sentiment: Separate press coverage (Wired) underscores lawsuits over scam ads on Facebook/Instagram, amplifying reputational and litigation concerns. Meta Is Sued Over Scam Ads
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta will track employee keystrokes to train AI and preparations for layoffs (reported May 20 planning) raise privacy and morale risks that could attract negative attention and regulatory scrutiny. Meta to track employee keystrokes to train AI Meta Prepares for “May 20” Layoffs

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.