Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,015.00 price target on the social networking company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 67.15% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Evercore increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.24.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $61.89 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $607.23. 25,174,688 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,628,888. 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 $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $630.28 and its 200 day moving average is $648.65.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.36 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $667.00, for a total value of $386,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,565,949. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $670.84, for a total value of $421,958.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 2,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,232.48. This represents a 20.96% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 167,155 shares of company stock valued at $107,067,129. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth 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 grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 outperformance — Meta posted a sizeable revenue and EPS beat (revenue ~$56.3B; EPS well above consensus), confirming robust ad momentum and AI monetization that support longer?term growth. PR Newswire: Meta Reports First Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Creator payments pilot — Meta began offering USDC stablecoin payouts to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines, expanding payment options and cross?border monetization tools for the creator economy. PYMNTS: Meta Begins Offering Stablecoin Payments to Creators
• Positive Sentiment: Energy/infra moves — Meta announced partnerships (space?based solar and long?duration storage) to secure continuous power for AI data centers, addressing a key operational/ESG risk tied to huge compute demand. InsiderMonkey: Meta Pursues Space Solar
• Positive Sentiment: Business AI traction — Meta says its business AI now facilitates ~10 million conversations per week, evidence that AI products are gaining usage and generating monetization opportunities. TechCrunch: Meta business AI usage
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/model tweaks — Some houses nudged FY estimates (small EPS tweaks) and remain split between buy vs. hold as they weigh valuation against the large capex ramp.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling disclosed — COO Javier Oliván sold shares under a Rule 10b5?1 plan; notable in size but pre?planned and not unusual for exec plans. SEC: Insider Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Massive CapEx raise — Management lifted 2026 capex guidance sharply to build AI data centers; investors see this as a near?term cash?flow/headwinds risk that outweighs the quarter’s beat. Reuters: Meta Lifts CapEx Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Planned bond sale to fund AI — Reports say Meta may raise $20–$25B in investment?grade bonds to finance its AI expansion, underscoring how the capex program will be funded and adding financing/flexibility concerns. Invezz: Meta eyes up to $25B bond sale
• Negative Sentiment: After?hours/early selloff — Despite the beat, shares dropped sharply in extended trading as markets punished the higher spend and mixed forward signals. Invezz: Meta stock sinks after earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and costly bets — The EU charged Meta under the Digital Services Act for failing to block under?13 users (potential fines/compliance costs), and Reality Labs posted another multi?billion loss; both increase execution and legal risk. Reuters: EU Charges Over Underage Users CNBC: Reality Labs Loss
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst reaction — JPMorgan downgraded META to Neutral and several analysts cut targets after the guidance/capex move, amplifying selling pressure (downgrade reported by market sources).

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.