Meta Platforms’ (META) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at KeyCorp

KeyCorp restated their overweight rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $760.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock.

META has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $841.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $611.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $629.62 and its 200-day moving average is $648.40. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.83% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 29.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.525 dividend. 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 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. The trade was a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the business’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 value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% 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 167,155 shares of company stock valued at $107,067,129 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings & ad momentum — Meta beat Q1 revenue and EPS expectations (revenue ~$56.3B; EPS well above consensus), showing robust ad demand and early AI monetization that supports long-term revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: AI product traction — Meta says its Business AI now handles ~10 million conversations per week, evidence that AI features are being adopted and could drive new ad/enterprise revenue streams. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New monetization moves — Pilot to pay creators in USDC and partnerships to secure energy for data centers signal diversification of payments and longer-term infrastructure planning. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling disclosed — COO Javier Oliván sold shares under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan; typical disclosure but watched by investors for signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Massive capex raise — Meta raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance sharply (now ~$125B–$145B), triggering concerns about near-term free cash flow, funding needs and the payback timeline on multiyear AI infrastructure spending. Investors pitched the stock down on this news. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction vs peers — Investors rewarded Alphabet’s AI strategy but punished Meta for the scale and funding model of its AI spend (no cloud cushion), widening the gap in market confidence. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Funding & financing signals — Reports that Meta is exploring a $20–$25B investment-grade bond sale to fund AI expansion add to investor worry about higher leverage and dilution of near-term cash returns. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Cost cuts + job risk — Management told staff that layoffs are tied to capex priorities and did not rule out further cuts, underscoring reallocation toward AI at the expense of labor and short-term execution risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal exposure — EU Digital Services Act charges over under‑13 users and a New Mexico AG standoff on age verification raise the possibility of fines, restrictions or costly compliance measures. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Loss-making bets & M&A headwinds — Reality Labs reported another multi‑billion operating loss and Meta faces pushback/unwinding of deals (Manus acquisition), highlighting high-cost bets with uncertain returns. Read More. Read More.

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.