Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading 1.7% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 1.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $666.49 and last traded at $658.76. 22,268,066 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 48% from the average session volume of 15,002,650 shares. The stock had previously closed at $647.63.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Threads ad rollout expands immediate ad-monetization optionality for a 400M+ MAU product, supporting near-term revenue upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors point to attractive valuation after the pullback (multiple firms reiterating buys and high price targets), encouraging value-oriented buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/tech progress: Meta’s AI lab reportedly delivered its first in-house models, a signal that internal AI capability is advancing and could support future product monetization and efficiency gains. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Hardware/metaverse upside: TD Cowen raised its PT and Meta plans to ramp Meta Glasses production, which supports longer-term diversification of revenue streams. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta suspended teen access to its AI characters globally while it builds a teen-specific version — a precautionary move that reduces regulatory/PR risk but could slow feature engagement and short-term monetization from those users. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (Jan. 28) and especially 2026 CapEx guidance are the primary near-term catalysts — strong revenue/AI updates could lift shares, while higher-than-expected CapEx would likely pressure the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider activity: COO Javier Oliván’s routine share sales continue to be disclosed; amounts are modest relative to his holdings and the company, so impact is limited. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: UK regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into Meta’s responsiveness on WhatsApp data requests, increasing compliance uncertainty in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: Meta is contesting evidence limits ahead of a New Mexico child-safety trial — unfavorable rulings or negative publicity could weigh on sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: Some firms have trimmed price targets (Stifel cut its PT; UBS trimmed earlier), reflecting sensitivity to guidance and spending — these moves can cap near-term upside if guidance disappoints. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $880.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $754.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $818.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $641.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $697.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the sale, the director owned 5,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,454,330.36. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.35, for a total transaction of $314,516.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 10,649 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,319.15. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 40,632 shares of company stock worth $25,055,572 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after buying an additional 278,180 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.