Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Earns “Hold” Rating from Benchmark

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $883.00 to $886.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $576.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $790.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $592.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $612.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS 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 business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at $1,092,006. This represents a 44.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,957 shares of company stock valued at $20,442,696. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 56,957.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,878,304,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,058,030,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875,012,642 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during 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 lifted its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Settlement removes a major legal overhang. Meta agreed to pay up to approximately $16.7 billion-$18 billion to settle claims brought by dozens of U.S. states alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed or misled young users. Investors appear to view the agreement as preferable to the potentially much larger damages and business restrictions that could have resulted from an adverse trial outcome. The settlement ends the landmark trial, while Meta’s core advertising model, personalized recommendations and targeted advertising remain intact. Meta reaches $18 billion of settlements over children’s social media addiction
• Positive Sentiment: AI could provide a new growth avenue. Commentary highlights Meta’s substantially increasing AI infrastructure spending, planned expansion toward 14 gigawatts of computing capacity by 2027, and the possibility of selling excess capacity to outside customers. Analysts also point to improving ad-ranking algorithms, rising ad impressions and pricing, and Meta’s strong balance sheet as support for long-term earnings growth. Meta stock has over 50% upside, but investors may be missing this catalyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its Hold rating, suggesting the settlement and AI opportunity are balanced by execution and spending risks. Unusually high call-option volume indicates increased speculative interest but is not a fundamental signal.
• Negative Sentiment: The settlement is financially and operationally significant. The payout could equal several months of profit, while two-hour daily limits, overnight blocks, muted notifications and stronger age-verification measures may reduce teen engagement and increase compliance costs. Florida’s rejection of the agreement and calls from regulators in the U.K., South Korea and Australia for global implementation raise the risk of additional settlements or broader regulation. UK expects Meta to match US child safety measures

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.