Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $820.00 Price Target at TD Cowen

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its target price boosted by TD Cowen from $810.00 to $820.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 30.77% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.96.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3%

META stock traded down $14.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $627.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,367,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,078,379. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $641.35 and its 200-day moving average is $702.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 40,519 shares of company stock valued at $25,133,331 over the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

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

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: New leadership appointment — Meta named Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair, a hire investors view as strengthening corporate, policy and deal‑making capabilities to execute its AI/compute strategy. Dina Powell McCormick joins Meta (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Cost discipline in Reality Labs — Meta plans to cut ~10% (reports up to 15% in some accounts) of Reality Labs staff and pull back Metaverse spending, which should improve near‑term margins and free capital for AI priorities. Meta plans to cut Reality Labs staff (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Securing energy for AI — Meta is prepaying and partnering on large nuclear projects (Oklo and others) to lock baseload power for its data centers, reducing a major operational risk for large‑scale AI compute. That deal de‑risks long‑term AI capacity growth. Oklo stock jumps as Meta prepays for nuclear project (Blockonomi)
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta Compute and AI infrastructure push — CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta Compute and plans for gigawatt‑scale capacity. Strategically important long term but entails very large near‑term CapEx that will keep capital intensity high. Meta to build gigawatt-scale computing capacity (Reuters)
• Neutral Sentiment: Workforce and pay program changes — Meta introduced a new Checkpoint performance program (higher rewards for top performers), which may help retention/execution but has limited immediate market impact. Meta shakes up performance review system (Business Insider)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk in Brazil — Brazil’s competition authority ordered WhatsApp to suspend terms that barred third‑party AI chatbots and opened an investigation into whether the policy is anti‑competitive; this raises compliance and product headwinds for WhatsApp Business revenue/strategy in a large market. Brazil orders Meta to suspend chatbot ban on WhatsApp (TechCrunch)
• Negative Sentiment: Australia enforcement and account removals — Meta removed ~550,000 accounts to comply with Australia’s under‑16 social‑media ban and is publicly pushing back on the policy; regulatory friction and user‑base disruptions can pressure engagement and lead to additional compliance costs. Meta warns Australia’s under-16 ban isn’t effective (Yahoo)

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.