Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 6.6% – Still a Buy?

Posted by Francis Steltz on Sep 9th, 2026

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) were up 6.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $657.86 and last traded at $653.69. Approximately 35,308,462 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 108% from the average session volume of 16,934,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $613.48.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

Positive Sentiment: Muse can perform tasks across Meta’s apps and third-party services, including sending emails, booking travel, shopping and making payments. Its free and paid tiers provide a possible recurring revenue stream beyond advertising. Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps, send emails and make payments
Positive Sentiment: Reports said consumer interest in Muse has “blown way past” expectations. Investors view strong engagement and potential subscription conversion as evidence that Meta’s large AI infrastructure investments could eventually produce meaningful returns. Meta says interest in its new AI agent has exceeded expectations
Positive Sentiment: Meta reportedly agreed to acquire Stilla.ai to advance its Meta Business Agent, supporting the company’s effort to apply autonomous AI tools to commercial interactions. Meta Platforms acquires Stilla.ai
Positive Sentiment: KeyBanc maintained an Overweight rating and a $780 price target after the Muse launch, while other bullish commentary points to strong advertising growth and long-term AI monetization potential. Analyst updates Meta stock price target
Neutral Sentiment: Meta is exploring additional data-center capacity in Argentina as U.S. projects encounter resistance. The move could support AI expansion, but also underscores the scale and geographic complexity of its capital spending. Big Tech looks to Argentina as U.S. data-center projects face resistance
Negative Sentiment: Muse heightens privacy, security and regulatory risks because it can access sensitive information and act across external applications. Meta also faces lawsuits related to alleged crypto-scam advertising and facial-recognition training. Meta faces privacy and safety concerns over personal AI agents
Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature limits the signal, but the transaction may modestly affect sentiment.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $763.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.22.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.6%

The business’s 50-day moving average is $598.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $608.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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, insider Curtis Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $869,922.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,957 shares in the company, valued at $1,092,006. The trade was a 44.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,227 shares of company stock worth $21,205,509 in the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 56,957.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,878,304,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,058,030,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875,012,642 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

(Get Free Report)

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company’s principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.