Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 2.4% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price was up 2.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $683.31 and last traded at $677.22. Approximately 14,738,455 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 17,583,148 shares. The stock had previously closed at $661.46.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s announcement of up to $135 billion in 2026 capital expenditures has been a major bullish catalyst, signaling heavy investment in AI and infrastructure and prompting strong investor buying earlier. META Pops 10% on $135B Capex Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results showed an earnings and revenue beat, reinforcing growth expectations and supporting valuation multiples — a prominent reason momentum has been constructive for the stock. MarketBeat: META Profile & Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: An institutional investor (Diamond Hill Capital) added to its META stake, a modest signal of continued buy-side interest. Diamond Hill Boosts META Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: CTO commentary: cuts to Reality Labs were described as a “real cause for sadness,” but leadership reiterated a long?term bullish stance on VR — signaling management focus on matching investment to growth, which may temper near?term capital allocation concerns. Meta CTO on Reality Labs Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: EU competition authorities have charged Meta with breaching antitrust rules for blocking third?party AI assistants from WhatsApp and signaled they may impose interim measures to force access — a regulatory headwind that could limit product control and create compliance costs. EU threatens Meta with interim measure
• Negative Sentiment: High?profile lawsuits opened this week alleging addictive product design and failures to protect minors (trials in New Mexico/Los Angeles and a broader “digital casinos” case). Unsealed research memos cited in filings intensify reputational and potential financial risk if plaintiffs prevail or regulators increase scrutiny. NYT: Meta and YouTube Created ‘Digital Casinos’

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Erste Group Bank cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $847.40.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.4%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $656.76 and a 200-day moving average of $694.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $5,962,956.64. This trade represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $365,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 38,561 shares of company stock valued at $23,673,584 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,191,175,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.