Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on META. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Phillip Securities raised Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.15.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $576.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $790.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $592.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $612.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% 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. Insiders sold a total of 34,957 shares of company stock valued at $20,442,696 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Meta Platforms by 56,957.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,878,304,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,058,030,191,000 after buying an additional 1,875,012,642 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,957,946,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732,446 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: The settlement ends a major federal trial and removes the risk of potentially far larger damages. Meta will pay approximately $16.7 billion to $18 billion, an amount analysts characterize as manageable relative to the company’s profitability. The agreement also avoids a fundamental overhaul of Meta’s core advertising model, personalized recommendations or targeted advertising. Meta’s social media settlement leaves its money machine unscathed
• Positive Sentiment: Investors appear to view legal certainty as more important than the near-term cash cost. The payout represents roughly three to four months of profit, while the settlement limits the possibility of a damaging “Big Tobacco”-style outcome or restrictions on the broader business. What smart people are saying about Meta’s settlement
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta must introduce extensive protections for users under 18, including a two-hour daily usage limit, default blocking from midnight to 6 a.m., muted school-hour notifications, parental controls and stronger age-restricted-content safeguards. The measures are expected to take effect within six months and could become stricter if competitors adopt similar rules. New Teen Safety Measures for Instagram and Facebook Are Coming
• Negative Sentiment: The settlement could create a broader regulatory precedent. Officials in the U.K., Australia and South Korea are already urging Meta to apply the safeguards globally, potentially increasing compliance costs and reducing engagement among younger users. UK expects Meta to match US child safety measures
• Negative Sentiment: Implementation remains uncertain: critics question whether age-verification technology works reliably and whether the new design changes will be effectively enforced. Florida has also rejected the settlement, while Meta still faces thousands of separate youth-harm lawsuits. Meta’s child-safety deal hinges on age verification technology

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.