Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms Buy Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $910.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 48.46% from the company’s current price.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research cut Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $821.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $612.96 on Thursday. 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 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $640.41 and a 200 day moving average of $697.92.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,962,956.64. This trade represents a 21.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,115 shares of company stock worth $24,741,055. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $43,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after buying an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $155,387,000 after buying an additional 20,912 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta will begin showing ads on Threads globally next week — a direct monetization lever for a platform that now reports 400M+ active users; this boosts the ad-revenue outlook if engagement scales. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated a Buy and said market “AI fears” are largely priced in — a supportive institutional view that can stabilize sentiment amid spending concerns. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI lab has delivered its first in‑house models, per the CTO — evidence of progress on proprietary AI capability that underpins long‑term monetization and infrastructure investments. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Oklo nuclear partnership to power data centers viewed by some analysts as de‑risking Meta’s infrastructure plans — could reduce energy/capex uncertainty for large-scale compute. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS trimmed its price target from $915 to $830 but kept a Buy rating — reduces upside vs. prior street targets but retains institutional support (mixed signal). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Street is focused on upcoming earnings and 2026 CapEx guidance — results/guidance next week could be the next major catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Note on semiconductor/compute supply chain: analyst pieces highlight Meta Compute and TSMC/Broadcom links — Meta’s capex plan matters for partners and for how investors view long‑term unit economics. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst downgrade earlier this week triggered a short-term selloff (price weakness reported), pressuring sentiment into today’s session. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: director Robert Kimmitt sold 580 shares (disclosed) — small in size but often cited by traders as a near-term negative signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Hedge fund rebalancing: Cypress Funds trimmed its stake — additional institutional selling that can add pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal overhang persists: the FTC will appeal the earlier antitrust ruling and UK authorities have flagged illegal gambling ads — ongoing regulatory risk could cap multiple expansion. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational moves: layoffs in Reality Labs and fallout from the Manus acquisition (some customers walked) underscore execution and reputational risks tied to AI/metaverse bets. Read More. • Read More.

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.