KeyCorp Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective boosted by KeyCorp from $900.00 to $905.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 29.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $885.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $580.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, New Street Research lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.94.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $662.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $629.10. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $779.82.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The social networking company reported $7.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $64.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%. The business’s revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.25 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 27.32 EPS for the current 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 stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total value of $2,002,514.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,875,854.26. The trade was a 34.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 149,906 shares of company stock worth $102,347,409. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 723.1% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,957,946,000 after buying an additional 7,732,446 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $2,948,486,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 92,033,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $51,841,811,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,038,035 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,036,491,000 after acquiring an additional 2,673,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Meta Platforms by 18.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 11,858,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,784,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,815,017 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26.1% year over year and above the roughly $63.3 billion analyst estimate. Adjusted earnings of $7.40 per share also exceeded consensus near $6.54, reinforcing the strength of its advertising business. Meta third-quarter earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Muse AI assistant has surpassed 10 million users, with shopping among the leading activities. Bulls believe Muse could eventually create new subscription, commerce and enterprise revenue streams and improve advertising engagement. Meta Muse user growth
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its Buy rating, while bullish analysts cited strong ad growth and potential margin-accretive monetization of Meta’s AI products. Rosenblatt Buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta raised the low end of its 2026 capital-expenditure outlook to $135 billion, while maintaining a top end of $145 billion. The spending supports AI infrastructure and data centers but increases pressure on cash flow and future margins. Meta AI spending outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta plans to issue nonvoting Class C shares to help fund its AI expansion without reducing Mark Zuckerberg’s voting control. The structure may improve financing flexibility but raises investor concerns about dilution and governance. Meta new share class
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties tied to Cambridge Analytica-era privacy practices. Meta plans to appeal, but the ruling adds substantial legal and headline risk. New Mexico privacy judgment
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing Muse’s high computing costs, projected Reality Labs losses of about $15 billion next year, an Australian class-action lawsuit alleging harm to children, and the departure of an AI researcher. These issues reinforce concerns that Meta’s AI strategy may take years to become profitable.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc is a technology company that develops social networking, messaging, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence products. The company’s principal platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, which enable users to connect, communicate, share content, and discover products and services.

Meta also operates Reality Labs, its division focused on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Reality Labs develops products such as Meta Quest virtual reality headsets and related software and experiences, along with research and hardware intended to support immersive computing.