Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns Neutral Rating from Arete Research

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by Arete Research in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on META. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.44.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ META opened at $644.86 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $654.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $681.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 160,927 shares of company stock valued at $103,155,254 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Closed multiyear AI/content and chip-supply deals that should improve model training quality and reduce sourcing risk — supports AI product road map and longer-term ad/engagement upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Signed paid content-licensing arrangements (reported coverage highlights a News Corp deal) and created a new applied-AI engineering organization to speed model development — both point to faster commercialization of AI features that can lift ad yields. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and some brokers continue to list META as a buy or top idea (e.g., inclusion on Bill Ackman-related lists and select upgrades), supporting demand from long-term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company presented at investor conferences and several sell‑side reports reiterated valuation/scale arguments — useful for analyst color but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street downgrades and cut price targets citing concerns that Meta is “lagging on AI” — raises short-term growth and competition worries and likely contributed to intraday selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold roughly $36.5M and COO Javier Olivan also executed significant sales — while often planned (tax/vesting), these filers increase headline risk and can create short-term supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competition pressure in Europe and Indonesia — Meta agreed to allow rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe (for a fee) to head off EU action, and Indonesia issued warnings over disinformation and algorithm transparency, adding compliance and revenue uncertainty in key markets. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: 13F filings show several high‑profile managers trimmed or exited META in Q4 — signals profit‑taking and reduced conviction from some large investors. 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.