Meta Platforms’ (META) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $810.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.92% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $754.00 to $849.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Guggenheim raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $847.46.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $55.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $723.73. 29,878,716 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,230,863. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $646.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $695.85. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,476,894.45. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,113 shares of company stock worth $24,621,042. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and strong guidance: Meta reported $59.9B revenue and $8.88 EPS, both above estimates, and guided Q1 revenue to $53.5B–$56.5B (well above consensus) — the primary catalyst for the rally. CNBC: Meta beats on top, bottom lines, gives stronger-than-expected forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and price?target increases: Multiple firms raised targets and ratings after the print (examples include Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Canaccord and others), reinforcing buy-side momentum. The Fly: Deutsche Bank price?target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Market view that AI spending is paying off for ads: Management argued AI is improving ad monetization and engagement; investors appear comfortable letting Meta fund aggressive AI infrastructure given the top?line momentum. MarketBeat: Meta soars after?hours
• Neutral Sentiment: Subscription tests across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp: Meta is experimenting with premium tiers and AI features — a potential long?term revenue diversifier but unclear near?term impact. CNET: Meta testing premium subscriptions
• Neutral Sentiment: Large supplier contracts validate data?center buildout: Multi?year fiber deal wins (and supplier moves) back Meta’s infrastructure plans — supports execution but underscores capital intensity. Schaeffers: Corning sees boost from Meta deal
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs remains a large drag: The XR unit posted roughly a $6.02B operating loss in Q4, a reminder of ongoing margin pressure from metaverse initiatives. CNBC: Reality Labs loss
• Negative Sentiment: Big increase in AI capex for 2026: Meta guided to $115B–$135B of capital spending, a step?up that raises near?term cash needs and margin risk if revenue acceleration stalls. Reuters: CapEx rise
• Negative Sentiment: XR/VR cash burn and restructuring warnings: Reporting that Reality Labs burned ~ $19B recently and still faces heavy losses adds execution and ROI uncertainty for long?dated bets. TechCrunch: $19B VR burn

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.