Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Rosenblatt Securities Analyst Says

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price lifted by Rosenblatt Securities from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target indicates a potential upside of 59.67% from the stock’s current price.

META has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Citizens Jmp reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 target price (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Arete Research set a $718.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $847.98.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of META stock opened at $716.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $652.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $696.11. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total transaction of $6,935,793.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,962,956.64. The trade was a 21.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 40,113 shares of company stock valued at $24,621,042 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during 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 during the period. Kooman & Associates lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 544 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 41.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 28,955 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,371,000 after purchasing an additional 8,527 shares during the period. 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: Q4 beat + AI narrative shift: Meta reported stronger‑than‑expected Q4 revenue and EPS and management framed ad strength as early proof that AI investments are improving monetization and engagement — a narrative some analysts now call an AI profit cycle. Meta’s Story Just Flipped — Seeking Alpha
• Positive Sentiment: Strong guidance & analyst upgrades: Q1 revenue guidance topped Street expectations and many firms raised price targets or reiterated buys, supporting the recent rally and giving institutional investors cover to support higher valuations. MarketBeat: Meta Soars After‑Hours
• Neutral Sentiment: Business diversification tests: Meta is piloting premium subscriptions for Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp and expanding AI features — potential long‑term upside but unclear near‑term revenue impact. CNBC: Premium subscription tests
• Neutral Sentiment: Supply deals validate buildout but signal capital intensity: large supplier agreements (e.g., with Corning) back the AI data‑center plan while confirming heavy multi‑year spending. CNBC: Corning deal
• Negative Sentiment: Massive 2026 CapEx: Management guided to $115B–$135B of capex for 2026 — far above prior levels — raising near‑term cash intensity and margin dilution concerns despite management saying operating income should hold. Reuters: CapEx rise
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs drag: XR/Reality Labs continues to burn cash (multi‑billion losses), creating an ongoing margin headwind and execution risk for non‑ad businesses. TechCrunch: $19B VR burn
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory & reputational headlines: A New Mexico trial alleging platforms exposed minors to exploitation and reports about content‑blocking controversies add legal and reputational risk that can pressure multiple‑quarter sentiment. Reuters: New Mexico trial
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term profit‑taking & headline noise: high short‑term expectations after the rally, occasional pundit criticism (e.g., Jim Cramer) and small insider sales add to volatility and can push the stock down after its run. 247WallSt: Jim Cramer critique

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.