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

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $613.48, but opened at $648.64. Meta Platforms shares last traded at $645.4110, with a volume of 8,137,683 shares trading hands.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse can interact with Facebook, Instagram and third-party applications to perform tasks such as sending emails, booking travel, shopping and making payments. Its free and paid tiers—including subscriptions priced at up to $100 per month—offer a possible new revenue stream and help address concerns that Meta’s heavy AI spending lacks a direct monetization path. Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps to send emails, make payments
• Positive Sentiment: The launch strengthened investor optimism about Meta’s broader AI strategy, following the release of Muse Spark 1.3 for coding and longer-running agentic tasks. The market increasingly sees the company’s AI investments as capable of producing future returns. Meta stock rises as Muse AI agent boosts investor optimism
• Positive Sentiment: KeyBanc maintained an Overweight rating and a $780 price target after the Muse announcement, reinforcing the bullish view that Meta’s advertising engine and AI initiatives can support additional upside. Analyst updates Meta stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Pershing Square, managed by Bill Ackman, reportedly increased its Meta position by 3.2 million shares, signaling continued institutional confidence in the company.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta and Panmnesia proposed a tightly integrated data-center architecture for large AI models. The project supports Meta’s long-term infrastructure strategy, although its financial benefits remain uncertain. Meta and Panmnesia data-center architecture
• Negative Sentiment: Muse raises privacy, security and regulatory risks because it can access sensitive information and act across other applications. Meta also faces litigation tied to alleged facial-recognition data use and crypto-scam advertising.
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Aaron Anderson sold 3,240 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The planned transaction is less concerning than discretionary selling, but it may modestly weigh on sentiment.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on META. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.22.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.4%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $598.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $608.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.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 business posted $7.14 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,227 shares of company stock worth $21,205,509 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 worth $352,101,000 after acquiring an additional 29,411 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 118,460 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $78,195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 528,966 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $349,165,000 after acquiring an additional 30,793 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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.