Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 1.7% – Still a Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares rose 1.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $691.52 and last traded at $688.55. Approximately 15,293,445 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 15,891,025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $676.87.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded AI partnerships and infrastructure deals boost revenue/AI roadmap visibility — Meta deepened and extended its Broadcom AI‑chip relationship (scaling capacity through 2029), supporting faster AI feature rollout and higher ad/engagement monetization potential. Meta Platforms Taps AVGO for AI Expansion: Buy or Hold META Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Large capacity commitments to CoreWeave underline sizable, long‑dated AI infrastructure spending that supports Meta’s compute roadmap and revenue mix. This signals durable demand for Meta’s AI stack and gives investors visibility on AI spend scale. CoreWeave’s April Shockwave — Meta, Anthropic, Jane Street All Say Yes
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: TD Cowen reiterated a buy and assigned a high $820 price target, which can drive positive sentiment and flows into the stock. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Receives Buy Rating from TD Cowen
• Neutral Sentiment: Hardware pricing update: Meta will raise U.S. prices for Quest VR headsets to offset rising component costs — a margin/profitability mix impact that’s ambiguous for top‑line growth. Meta to raise Quest VR headset prices in US on rising component costs
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales: COO Javier Olivan sold shares under a pre‑arranged 10b5‑1 plan (disclosed SEC filing) — routine but noted by traders as liquidity/positioning data. SEC ownership filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Reputation/regulatory watch: Reports of AI‑generated fake influencer accounts across platforms (TikTok/Instagram/Facebook) add moderation and policy risk, but near‑term financial impact is uncertain. Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media
• Negative Sentiment: Major layoffs planned: Reuters reports Meta will cut roughly 10% of its global workforce (~8,000 jobs) in an initial wave targeted for May 20, with additional rounds later in 2026. That reduces near‑term operating costs but raises execution, morale and product roadmap risk; markets often react variably to large cuts. Exclusive: Meta targets May 20 for first wave of layoffs; additional cuts later in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in Europe: The European Commission is considering interim measures to force WhatsApp policy rollbacks that could limit how third‑party AI services access WhatsApp Business — a potential hit to monetization plans in a key market. European Action On WhatsApp AI Access Tests Meta’s Monetization Plans

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $837.72.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $626.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $652.21. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 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 yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.94%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total value of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 164,499 shares of company stock worth $105,237,895 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew 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 worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after buying an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.