Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $770.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

by · The Markets Daily

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $840.00 to $770.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the social networking company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 44.23% from the company’s previous close.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $799.18.

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Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $51.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $533.86. The company had a trading volume of 22,015,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,737,664. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $603.59 and its 200-day moving average is $624.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.14 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 29.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after acquiring an additional 18,169 shares during the last quarter. WMS Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,789,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Meta Platforms News

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

  • Positive Sentiment: Meta reported revenue of $60.8 billion, up 28% year over year and above Wall Street expectations. Advertising trends remained strong, with ad revenue growth, higher impressions and improved pricing; AI-driven recommendations also helped increase time spent on Instagram. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
  • Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained favorable ratings despite lowering price targets. Citizens JMP, Cantor Fitzgerald, Rosenblatt Securities, KeyCorp, Bank of America and Monness Crespi & Hardt still rated the stock market outperform, overweight or buy, with targets ranging from $680 to $883. Analyst Price Target Updates
  • Positive Sentiment: Bullish commentators argue Meta’s advertising business can fund its AI investments, while potential leasing of excess computing capacity and expansion into enterprise AI could create additional revenue streams. Meta Potentially Leasing AI Compute
  • Neutral Sentiment: Meta is advancing a $14 billion data-center project with BlackRock and is considering how to balance selling computing capacity with reserving it for internal AI models. The strategy could improve returns, but investors want clearer evidence of monetization. Meta’s AI Compute Conundrum
  • Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS was $6.18, below the roughly $7.19 consensus and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal and severance charges contributed to the miss, while Reality Labs continued to lose more than $4.6 billion. Meta Misses Profit Expectations
  • Negative Sentiment: Meta plans approximately $130 billion to $145 billion of 2026 capital spending, with third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion below the $63.2 billion analyst estimate. The resulting concern is that AI spending is consuming nearly all operating cash flow without yet demonstrating sufficient returns. Meta and Microsoft Earnings
  • Negative Sentiment: Wall Street’s broad price-target reductions indicate lower near-term expectations, even though most firms remain bullish. Investors are contrasting Meta’s spending-heavy AI strategy with Microsoft’s clearer evidence that AI investments are generating growth. Why Investors Prefer Microsoft’s AI Spending

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.

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