Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Posted by Francis Steltz on May 17th, 2026

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $840.3095.

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This represents a 20.83% 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. Insiders sold a total of 160,352 shares of company stock worth $102,559,436 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square continues to hold Meta alongside other megacap AI leaders, reinforcing the view that META remains a core long-term AI and digital ads name. Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Google. Is Ackman’s Hedge Fund Just a Mag 7 Play?
Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point out that Meta’s latest earnings beat was strong, with faster revenue growth and better-than-expected EPS, which supports the bull case despite recent volatility. Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Neutral Sentiment: Meta is getting attention as one of the most-watched stocks on Zacks, suggesting investors are closely focused on what comes next for AI spending, ad growth, and margins. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
Neutral Sentiment: Meta is still a key part of the AI trade, but commentary about an AI bubble and crowded megacap positioning is keeping sentiment cautious around the stock. UBS warns AI stocks are overheating as growth expectations collide with history
Negative Sentiment: Meta’s CFO said 2026 capital expenditures are expected to keep rising, intensifying concerns that heavy AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and near-term profitability. Money Pit? Zuckerberg Just Exposed Why Hyperscaler AI Spending Keeps Going Up
Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing fresh legal and regulatory pressure, including a New Mexico youth-safety trial, an Italian lawsuit over minors’ social media use, and a California suit tied to AI scam ads and advertising practices. Meta and Google fund US kids’ groups, as critics warn of social media risk
Negative Sentiment: Some fund managers trimmed META holdings, which may add to near-term caution even though other investors increased exposure. ARK Investment’s Cathie Wood Cuts Meta Platforms Stake Sharply

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $614.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $622.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $640.72.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Meta Platforms

(Get Free Report)

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.