Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target Lowered to $715.00 at UBS Group

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price decreased by analysts at UBS Group from $766.00 to $715.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 33.74% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on META. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $794.73.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $50.97 on Thursday, hitting $534.64. 32,955,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,820,453. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $603.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total value of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after acquiring an additional 878,396 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of approximately $60.2 billion. Advertising trends remained healthy, with ad impressions, pricing and Instagram engagement benefiting from AI-powered recommendations. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings despite reducing their price targets. Truist, TD Cowen, DA Davidson, Cantor Fitzgerald and others still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s risk-reward profile if advertising growth continues. Analyst Price Target Updates
• Positive Sentiment: Meta highlighted potential longer-term monetization opportunities, including enterprise AI agents, new AI-enabled applications and possibly leasing excess computing capacity to outside customers. WhatsApp also reported record usage during the FIFA World Cup final. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: India summoned Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident adds regulatory and political scrutiny in a strategically important market, though no material financial impact was reported. India summons Meta executives
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings per share of $6.18 missed consensus estimates near $7.20 and fell from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal and severance charges, along with higher operating costs, weighed heavily on profit. Meta’s Stock Tumbles After Profits Disappoint
• Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on capital expenditures this year, while operating cash flow was largely absorbed by AI infrastructure spending. Future lease obligations tied mainly to AI data centers reached $279 billion, up 53% in three months, intensifying concerns about cash flow, margins and balance-sheet risk. Meta narrows annual capex forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the roughly $63.2 billion analyst consensus. Investors also remain unconvinced that Meta has offered a clear timeline for converting its AI spending into meaningful incremental revenue. Meta leaves investors wanting more on AI monetization timeline

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.