Raymond James Financial Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $800.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by Raymond James Financial from $825.00 to $800.00 in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Redburn Partners set a $900.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $754.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $668.73 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $646.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $695.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.00, for a total value of $343,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,737,780. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the sale, the insider owned 28,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,876,738.02. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 40,113 shares of company stock valued at $24,621,042 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after purchasing an additional 278,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results materially beat expectations: revenue roughly $59.9B and EPS of $8.88, plus first‑quarter revenue guidance above consensus ($53.5B–$56.5B). Strong ad momentum and user metrics support the core business. CNBC: Meta beats on top, bottom lines, gives stronger-than-expected forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street reaction includes fresh bullish calls and upgrades ahead of/after the print, reflecting confidence in ad recovery and AI-driven monetization. Evercore reiterates outperform
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is testing premium subscription tiers across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp to diversify revenue and add AI features — a potential long‑term positive but unclear near‑term impact. CNBC: Meta to test premium subscription plans
• Neutral Sentiment: Large supplier deals (e.g., up to $6B with Corning for fiber‑optic cable) validate Meta’s AI data‑center buildout but also signal sustained capital intensity. CNBC: Corning deal
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs continues to be a heavy drag: an operating loss of about $6.02B in Q4 and management disclosing multi‑billion‑dollar losses tied to XR investments. That amplifies margin risk. CNBC: Reality Labs loss
• Negative Sentiment: Meta signaled a dramatic increase in AI capex for 2026 (management cited a $115B–$135B buildout range), a front‑loaded spending plan that raises questions about near‑term returns and margin dilution. Reuters: Capex rise
• Negative Sentiment: Earlier TechCrunch reporting shows Reality Labs burned roughly $19B in recent periods and layoffs in that unit — a reminder that XR investment remains costly and uncertain. TechCrunch: $19B VR burn
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares (small amount relative to his holdings) — a minor negative signal that some investors will note. SEC filing

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.