Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $770.00 Price Target at Citizens Jmp

Posted by George Bondi on Jul 31st, 2026

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) had its target price reduced by Citizens Jmp from $800.00 to $770.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $789.95.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $539.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $602.23 and its 200 day moving average is $623.44. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $520.26 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.81% and a net margin of 29.83%.The business had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,376.50. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations, while advertising demand, impressions, pricing and AI-powered recommendations remained strong. Instagram time spent also grew by double digits. META’s Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Ad Growth
Positive Sentiment: Several analysts retained bullish ratings despite reducing price targets. UBS, Baird, Citi, Truist and other firms still see substantial upside, suggesting the selloff may have improved Meta’s valuation appeal if advertising growth continues. Analyst price-target updates
Positive Sentiment: Management said AI is improving ad performance, content recommendations and enterprise products, while new applications and potential AI-agent businesses could create additional monetization opportunities. META Q2 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion Strategy
Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring ways to lease or sell excess computing capacity, including possible enterprise AI opportunities. This could generate revenue from infrastructure investment, but the company must balance external sales with its own model-development needs. Zuckerberg lays out Meta’s AI capacity dilemma
Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below estimates near $7.2 and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal expenses of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of roughly $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, but operating expenses also rose substantially.
Negative Sentiment: Meta maintained an aggressive AI investment plan, forecasting 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion. Operating cash flow of $31.9 billion was almost entirely consumed by capital spending, leaving approximately $784 million after capex. Meta Generated $31.9 Billion in Operating Cash Flow Last Quarter
Negative Sentiment: Future lease obligations, largely tied to AI data centers, rose 53% in three months to $279 billion. Investors are questioning whether advertising growth and future AI services will generate adequate returns on this commitment. Meta’s future AI data center lease obligations
Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was viewed as soft relative to the $63.2 billion consensus, reinforcing concerns that spending and margin pressure may persist. Reality Labs also posted a loss exceeding $4.6 billion.
Negative Sentiment: Meta’s weakness contrasted with Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results, which gave investors clearer evidence that AI spending is producing returns. This comparison intensified the market’s skepticism toward Meta’s less-defined AI monetization timeline. Meta tanks nearly 9%, Microsoft jumps 8% as the AI trade splits Big Tech

About Meta Platforms

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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.