Meta closed at $675.03, up 2.4% Friday but down 2% for the week. Short interest sits at 1.21% of float – a 30-day high. Options traders tilt heavily bullish (PCR at 52-week low) ahead of Tuesday's Q1 print. Analysts hold an $855 mean target, though recent weeks brought a wave of cuts.
Meta closed at $675.03 on April 24, up 2.4% on the day.
The stock is down 2% for the week but up 13.8% over the past month. The recent run has pushed shares back above key levels after late-March weakness.
Short interest stands at 26.4 million shares as of April 23, or 1.21% of the free float.
That marks the highest level in 30 days. Shares short climbed 9.2% over the past month, though the week-over-week change was minimal (-0.18%).
Cost to borrow sits at 0.25%, down 22% over the past week and down 43% over the past month. The 30-day CTB range spans 0.11% to 0.47%, with current levels near the recent low.
Utilization is 0.33%, unchanged from the prior week. That compares to a 52-week high of 0.90% reached earlier this year. The metric has held steady in the 0.29%–0.33% band since mid-March, after running below 0.20% through most of that month.
The put/call ratio closed at 0.4861 on April 24 – the 52-week low.
That reading is 1.7 standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.502, signaling a pronounced tilt toward calls. The z-score of –1.75 is the most extreme in the trailing year.
Over the past month, PCR dropped sharply from late March's 0.67–0.70 range. The shift accelerated in early April and continued through this week.
The mean analyst target is $855, implying 27% upside from the current price.
UBS's Stephen Ju raised his target to $908 from $872 on April 21, maintaining a Buy. Citizens' Andrew Boone reiterated Market Outperform with a $900 target the same day. Guggenheim's Michael Morris held his $850 target and Buy rating on April 23.
Bank of America's Justin Post cut his target to $820 from $885 on April 20, keeping a Buy. Stifel's Mark Kelley trimmed to $805 from $820 on April 13. Keybanc's Justin Patterson lowered to $760 from $855 on April 9. Rosenblatt's Barton Crockett cut to $1,015 from $1,144 the same day. Wells Fargo's Ken Gawrelski reduced to $765 from $856 on April 2. Morgan Stanley's Brian Nowak lowered to $775 from $825 on March 30.
The P/E ratio closed at 20.6 on April 24, up 1.76 points over the past 30 days.
EV/EBITDA stands at 11.09, down 0.40 points over the past month. The price-to-book sits at 5.23, up 0.44 points in the same period.
Meta ranks in the 96th percentile for dividend score and the 94th for forward EPS growth. Earnings surprise scores sit at the 70th percentile. EPS momentum ranks at the 62nd percentile (30-day) and 69th (90-day). The short score rank is 81st percentile, while DTC and utilization both sit around the 72nd–73rd percentile.
Vanguard holds 200 million shares (7.88% of the company), up 7.3 million in Q1.
BlackRock owns 171.3 million shares (6.75%), up 4 million. State Street holds 90.8 million (3.58%), up 4.4 million. T. Rowe Price added 4.3 million shares to reach 38 million (1.50%).
Founder Mark Zuckerberg holds 341.8 million shares (13.47%), down 242,340 as of October 31.
Insiders sold a net 7,947 shares over the past 90 days, valued at $5.1 million.
COO Javier Olivan sold 1,555 shares on April 20 across five transactions near $680, totaling $1.06 million. He sold an additional 846 shares on April 13 in four trades near $627–$630, totaling $531,242. Lead Independent Director Robert Kimmitt sold 580 shares on April 15 at $667, valued at $387,000.
GOOGL is Meta's closest peer with a 78% correlation.
Alphabet fell 0.8% over the past week, outperforming Meta's 2% decline. SNAP dropped 3.1% in the same period.
Meta reports Q1 earnings on April 29 at 4:00 PM ET.
The ORTEX short score closed at 28.81 on April 23, essentially flat over the past two weeks. Options positioning has shifted dramatically bullish in the past three weeks, with PCR now at a 52-week extreme. Short interest sits at the highest level in a month, though absolute SI remains low at 1.21% of float.
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