Wedbush Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $880.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Wedbush from $920.00 to $880.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential upside of 32.20% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $818.59.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $665.67. The stock had a trading volume of 6,363,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,503,170. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $660.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $707.10. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25.

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 business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares in the company, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,478,698. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI upside — Meta is building a new multimodal image/video model codenamed “Mango” and plans to launch a large language model called “Avocado,” boosting the company’s AI positioning and monetization runway. WSJ: Meta Developing Mango
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory tailwind for Big Tech AI — an executive order pushing for a national AI framework could reduce compliance complexity across U.S. states, potentially benefiting Meta’s AI investments and deployment. White House: AI Executive Order
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals & shareholder returns — recent quarterly results beat estimates (strong revenue and EPS), and Meta declared a small quarterly dividend, supporting investor confidence in cash generation and capital allocation. MarketBeat: META Profile & Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling continues — several filings show routine sales by executives/directors (Jennifer Newstead, Javier Olivan, Robert Kimmitt). These appear to be scheduled and already disclosed but can keep short-term selling pressure visible. InsiderTrades: Newstead Filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Product strategy shift — Meta paused its program to share the Horizon OS with third‑party headset makers, a move that slows ecosystem expansion for its XR platform and could alter Reality Labs growth assumptions. TechCrunch: Horizon OS Pause
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent transition — reports say Yann LeCun is discussing a new AI startup; losing a high‑profile AI scientist can be watched but doesn’t change Meta’s large AI engine room in the near term. Reuters: LeCun Startup Talks
• Negative Sentiment: Major EU legal shock — Austria’s Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered the company to overhaul data practices and give EU users full access to personal data within 14 days. The decision is final and directly enforceable across the EU, creating potential revenue impact, higher compliance costs and precedent for other regulators. Reuters: Austria Court Ruling
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk — a wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges Instagram prioritized engagement over child safety in sextortion-related deaths; litigation and reputational pressure add to regulatory scrutiny in key markets. BusinessWire: Instagram Lawsuit

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.