Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Up 2% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded up 2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $539.55 and last traded at $536.38. 22,510,174 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 44% from the average session volume of 15,596,181 shares. The stock had previously closed at $525.72.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating on META even after trimming its price target to $775, signaling continued buy-side conviction from a major sell-side firm. Morgan Stanley Trims PT on Meta Platforms (META) to $775 Amid Softer Advertising Backdrop
• Positive Sentiment: TheStreet reports Wall Street calls it “time to buy” after recent weakness, underscoring momentum-chasing demand and positioning that can lift the stock in a risk-on session. Morgan Stanley says it’s “time to buy” California-based tech giant
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is quietly building an elite AI lab inside its recommendations group (ex-TikTok executive Yang Song leading the unit), which supports the company’s AI monetization narrative and long-term ad/product upside. Meta is assembling an elite new AI lab for its recommendations division
• Positive Sentiment: Meta and Corning broke ground on an optical cable manufacturing expansion to support Meta’s AI data-center buildout — a tangible infrastructure move reducing supply-chain risk and supporting AI growth capacity. Corning and Meta Celebrate Start of Construction on Cable Manufacturing Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Meta launched new Ray‑Ban prescription smart glasses (and other wearables updates) — these consumer wins help the narrative that Reality Labs hardware can scale beyond experiments. Meta unveils two new Ray-Ban prescription smart glasses
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/finance writeups highlight AI monetization upside and recent feature rollouts (engagement tools, subscriptions tests), supporting the view that core ad revenue can re-accelerate with AI. Meta: Here’s Why I Believe Market Is Underestimating Meta’s AI Monetization Story
• Positive Sentiment: Benzinga attributes part of today’s bounce to a broad risk-on session and rotation back into mega-cap growth, which mechanically boosts META. What’s Behind The Bounce In Meta Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Speculative upside: commentary on extreme valuation scenarios and new executive pay packages (big targets) is notable but speculative — could motivate investors but not immediate fundamentals. Can Meta Platforms Reach a $9 Trillion Valuation in 5 Years? Here’s What It Would Take
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is deploying AI to speed and improve product risk reviews — a governance/safety play that reduces long-term legal/product risk but is incremental near term. Meta Deploys AI to Accelerate and Enhance Risk Review During Product Development
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage roundup and positive long-term growth takes from outlets like Zacks and Motley/Fool keep bullish narratives visible to investors, supporting sentiment but adding noise. Wall Street Analysts Think Meta Platforms (META) Is a Good Investment: Is It?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk remains acute: TechCrunch and others flag recent court rulings finding Meta liable over harms to teens — these decisions raise potential damages and regulatory scrutiny. Meta was finally held accountable for harming teens. Now what?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure overseas: Indonesia summoned Meta over non-compliance with child social media curbs, adding to a global patchwork of enforcement that can complicate product rollouts and ad targeting. Indonesia summons Meta and Google over non-compliance with child social media curbs
• Negative Sentiment: Workforce cuts continue (recent round affects ~168 WA employees), which helps near-term cost control but may signal slower-than-expected growth in some units. Latest Meta layoffs target 168 employees in Washington state

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.54.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $641.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $663.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $366,571.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,797,952.54. This represents a 11.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 161,448 shares of company stock worth $103,333,788. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Old North State Trust LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,300,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $1,508,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,463,000. Cornerstone Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,099,000. Finally, AMG Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $668,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.