Wedbush Cuts Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $880.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Wedbush from $920.00 to $880.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 32.20% from the stock’s previous close.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Arete Research set a $718.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $818.59.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $665.67. 6,363,987 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,503,170. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $660.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $707.10.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total transaction of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.23, for a total transaction of $333,836.37. Following the transaction, the insider owned 29,696 shares in the company, valued at $19,101,358.08. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,074 shares of company stock worth $26,478,698. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI upside — Meta is building a new multimodal image/video model codenamed “Mango” and plans to launch a large language model called “Avocado,” boosting the company’s AI positioning and monetization runway. WSJ: Meta Developing Mango
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory tailwind for Big Tech AI — an executive order pushing for a national AI framework could reduce compliance complexity across U.S. states, potentially benefiting Meta’s AI investments and deployment. White House: AI Executive Order
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals & shareholder returns — recent quarterly results beat estimates (strong revenue and EPS), and Meta declared a small quarterly dividend, supporting investor confidence in cash generation and capital allocation. MarketBeat: META Profile & Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling continues — several filings show routine sales by executives/directors (Jennifer Newstead, Javier Olivan, Robert Kimmitt). These appear to be scheduled and already disclosed but can keep short-term selling pressure visible. InsiderTrades: Newstead Filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Product strategy shift — Meta paused its program to share the Horizon OS with third?party headset makers, a move that slows ecosystem expansion for its XR platform and could alter Reality Labs growth assumptions. TechCrunch: Horizon OS Pause
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent transition — reports say Yann LeCun is discussing a new AI startup; losing a high?profile AI scientist can be watched but doesn’t change Meta’s large AI engine room in the near term. Reuters: LeCun Startup Talks
• Negative Sentiment: Major EU legal shock — Austria’s Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered the company to overhaul data practices and give EU users full access to personal data within 14 days. The decision is final and directly enforceable across the EU, creating potential revenue impact, higher compliance costs and precedent for other regulators. Reuters: Austria Court Ruling
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk — a wrongful?death lawsuit alleges Instagram prioritized engagement over child safety in sextortion-related deaths; litigation and reputational pressure add to regulatory scrutiny in key markets. BusinessWire: Instagram Lawsuit

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.