Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Upgraded by Erste Group Bank to “Buy” Rating

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) was upgraded by research analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on META. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.9%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $667.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $655.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $682.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at $7,746,335.16. The trade was a 16.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,927 shares of company stock worth $103,155,254. 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 stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a multiyear AI content-licensing deal that gives Meta paid access to News Corp content for training and retrieval — supports AI product quality and reduces legal/quality risk around training data. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Announced a new applied AI engineering organization (flat structure to speed model development) and an applied AI unit to accelerate model work — signals faster product development and continued R&D investment behind AI-driven ad and product monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and pundits highlight Meta’s ability to monetize AI across its large user base (including tests of AI shopping tools) — reinforces revenue upside from higher engagement and ad yield. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation reviews note Meta’s scale, margins and recent cooling in short-term returns — provides context for positioning but is not a day-specific driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and others point out heavy institutional buying even as insiders sell — suggests professional investors remain constructive despite headline noise. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Indonesia issued a “stern warning” over disinformation and gambling content and is pushing for greater algorithm transparency — represents regulatory and content-moderation risk in a large market. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Indonesian officials publicly urged Meta to increase algorithm transparency, adding reputational and compliance pressure that could lead to operational or policy costs. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Facebook experienced user outages in the U.S. this week — short-term engagement and ad-impression risk and a reminder of operational vulnerability. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan also sold shares — executed via SEC filings; while often tax/plan-driven, such sales can create short-term selling pressure and feed negative headlines. Read More. Read More.

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.