Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Guggenheim in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $800.00 target price on the social networking company's stock. Guggenheim's target price points to a potential upside of 34.79% from the company's current price.

• A $1.5 Billion Wake-Up Call for Every AI Company on Wall Street

META has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $671.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $1,015.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $835.64.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Price Performance

• Meta Earnings Put AI Spending and Ad Growth Back in Focus

META opened at $593.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $604.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $625.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

• Meta Platforms Turns AI Power Scarcity Into a $10 Billion Cloud Bet

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. 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 36,393 shares of company stock worth $22,141,163 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares in the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta and BlackRock announced a venture to develop and operate a data-center campus in El Paso, Texas, valued at approximately $14 billion. The partnership could help Meta expand AI capacity while sharing development and ownership responsibilities with a major financial partner. Meta Announces New Strategic Venture with BlackRock to Develop Data Center in El Paso
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentators remain bullish ahead of earnings, citing strong advertising growth, AI-driven improvements in engagement and monetization, a history of earnings beats, and a valuation below Meta’s historical average. Meta is expected to report results after Wednesday’s close. Meta Platforms: Time To Be Greedy
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding Meta AI by adding chatbot access to Threads direct messages, potentially increasing user engagement and creating additional long-term monetization opportunities. Threads users can now chat with Meta AI in their DMs

About Meta Platforms

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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