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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $822.8889.

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Arete Research set a $718.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,555 shares of company stock valued at $25,869,502. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 488 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Secured multi‑gigawatt nuclear power deals (Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo) to supply Meta’s Prometheus AI data center — long‑dated agreements help lock in reliable, low‑carbon capacity for heavy AI compute and reduce power‑supply risk for future growth. Meta strikes nuclear power agreements with three companies
• Positive Sentiment: Nuclear deals receive broad coverage (TechCrunch, Bloomberg) and have already lifted shares of partners (Oklo, Vistra) — a signal markets view the agreements as material to Meta’s AI infrastructure buildout and future margins. Meta signs deals with three nuclear companies for 6+ GW
• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand signals for Meta’s Ray‑Ban Display AI glasses — company paused international rollout because U.S. demand outstripped limited inventory, which supports upside for Reality Labs if Meta can scale production. Meta’s New AI Glasses See “Unprecedented Demand”
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity mixed but constructive: some price targets trimmed (Guggenheim lowered its target) yet many firms retain Buy/Outperform views given AI growth and healthy fundamentals — watch updates for guidance impact. Guggenheim price target note
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk in China — Beijing announced a probe/assessment of Meta’s ~$2B Manus acquisition to check export/security compliance; this creates near‑term transaction uncertainty and geopolitical headline risk. China to assess/investigate Manus deal
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Javier Oliván disclosed small, regular share sales — routine but sometimes interpreted by market participants as a mild near‑term negative signal. SEC filing: Javier Oliván sale

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $653.06 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.29. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $641.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $703.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.