Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 2.7% – Time to Buy?

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Sep 14th, 2026

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) traded up 2.7% on Monday . The company traded as high as $668.60 and last traded at $665.60. Approximately 19,199,952 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 16,977,756 shares. The stock had previously closed at $648.03.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs reiterated its bullish view, citing the commercial rollout of Meta’s Muse AI agent and a recent legal settlement as potential catalysts. The firm expects additional upside over the next year. Why is Meta stock gaining in premarket today
Positive Sentiment: Analysts pointed to strong advertising momentum in the second quarter, including a 14% increase in ad impressions and a 12% rise in average ad prices. One analyst rated META a Buy with an $817 price target, while its forward PEG ratio remains below sector and historical averages. Meta Platforms: AI Spending Is Starting To Pay Off
Positive Sentiment: Meta and Alphabet benefited from investor rotation toward established AI companies after concerns that frontier-AI development may slow. Investors may view Meta’s large user base, advertising business and AI investments as more immediately monetizable than speculative AI infrastructure plays. Why Google and Meta Stocks Are the Big Winners From the Latest AI Concerns
Neutral Sentiment: Reports highlighted the scale of Meta’s AI data-center investment and the broader expansion of AI-related debt issuance. Meta’s strong balance sheet reduces immediate financing concerns, but the spending cycle increases scrutiny of capital returns and execution. AI-Related Debt Sales Are Near $500 Billion
Negative Sentiment: Meta faces a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that its unreleased smart glasses’ reported “NameTag” facial-recognition feature improperly used Facebook and Instagram data. The case could create legal costs and privacy-related reputational risk. Meta Faces Lawsuit Over Smart Glasses Facial Recognition
Negative Sentiment: Meta’s Oversight Board urged the company not to replace professional fact-checking with Community Notes, adding pressure around content moderation and platform governance. Oversight Board asks Meta not to replace fact-checking with Community Notes

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $650.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $788.88.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $601.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $608.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 earned $7.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 21st. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.91%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.06, for a total transaction of $2,002,514.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,875,854.26. This represents a 34.07% 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 sold 60,183 shares of company stock valued at $36,673,495 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Abbot Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 53.5% in the second quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,299,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $876,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 625,079 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $352,101,000 after buying an additional 29,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 118,460 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $78,195,000 after buying an additional 2,871 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

(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.