Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were up 6% during trading on Monday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $597.52 and last traded at $590.24. 25,409,168 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 50% from the average session volume of 16,995,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $556.71.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on META. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. The trade was a 41.08% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 37,770 shares of company stock worth $23,034,051 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Muse Code, its first AI coding agent, as it expands Meta Superintelligence Labs and competes more directly with Anthropic and OpenAI. The product could create a new AI-services growth avenue and demonstrate potential returns from the company’s substantial AI investments. Meta debuts first AI coding agent to take on Anthropic and OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Phillip Securities upgraded Meta to “strong buy,” providing a favorable analyst signal following the recent earnings-related selloff. Meta Platforms upgraded by Phillip Securities
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta and other major AI companies are scheduled to discuss voluntary safety testing with White House advisers. Cooperation could help shape AI policy, although the meeting also underscores growing scrutiny of advanced AI systems. Meta, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI to meet with Trump White House
• Negative Sentiment: A Senate committee advanced online child-safety legislation that could increase Meta’s legal exposure for harms involving minors and potentially challenge its liability protections in the United States. Meta, Google Online Child Safety Rules Advance in US Senate
• Negative Sentiment: Meta apologized to Indian officials over temporarily restricting a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as reported content-moderation and operational errors. The incident raises reputational and regulatory risks, including possible challenges to Meta’s “safe harbor” protections in India. Meta apologises to India for restricting PM Modi’s post
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is among Big Tech companies committed to roughly $1.09 trillion in future lease payments, largely for AI data centers. The spending supports long-term AI capacity but increases fixed-cost, capital-allocation and margin risks after Meta’s quarterly EPS missed estimates. AI data-centre race builds $1 trillion lease burden for Big Tech

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $600.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $622.36.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.91%.

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.