Meta Shares Fall Thursday as Teen Safety Settlement Weighs

Meta Platforms, Inc. shares fell nearly 1% on Thursday as investors weighed a multi-billion-dollar comprehensive teen safety settlement, while the broader market moved higher.

• Meta Platforms shares showed a downward bias. What's the outlook for META stock?

Meta Faces Teen Safety Settlement Costs

Meta reached a broad settlement with 29 U.S. states, implementing daily usage time limits and nighttime restrictions for teens, strengthening age verification measures, and expanding parental controls on Facebook and Instagram.

The framework includes payments of up to $17 billion related to state claims. Meta has disclosed total payments of approximately $18 billion over 10 years, including a separate $1 billion settlement with Texas.

Despite the S&P 500 rising 0.6%, Meta shares moved lower. The communication services sector fell 0.7%, while the technology sector drove most of the broader index's strength.

Analyst consensus and recent ratings: The stock holds a Buy rating with an average price target consensus of $782. Recent analyst rating changes include:

Benchmark: Hold rating given on August 27

Truist Securities: Buy

Needham: Hold rating given on August 27

Major ETF Holdings

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund: 9.46% weight

Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF: 8.91% weight

Founder-Led ETF: 9.93% weight

Significance: Given Meta Platforms' extremely high weightings in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows in these ETFs could force automatic buying or selling of the stock.

META Price Action

As of Thursday's writing, Meta Platforms shares were down 0.54% at $573.12.