What's Going On With Meta Shares Thursday?

Zinger Key Points

KeyBanc raised its price target for Meta Platforms to $540, with BMO Capital and Raymond James also maintaining positive ratings and targets
New reports suggest a U.S. ban on TikTok might be imminent, positioning Meta to benefit from the potential migration of TikTok users
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Meta Platforms Inc. META shares are on watch on Thursday amid two significant developments: A price target upgrade from KeyBanc and new reports suggesting a U.S. ban on TikTok might be imminent.

What Happened: KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson maintained an Overweight rating on Meta Platforms and raised the price target from $475 to $540. A few weeks ago, BMO Capital reiterated its rating with a price target of $450, while Raymond James maintained their rating and adjusted the price target from $525 to $550.

What Else?: Reports indicate that TikTok has urged a U.S. court to strike down a law that would ban the app in the United States on January 19, 2024. TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, argue that divestiture is not possible and claim the law violates free speech rights. Despite efforts to negotiate with the U.S. government, talks have stalled since 2022.

Meta potentially stands to benefit from a TikTok ban, given its competing products such as Instagram Reels and Facebook. With TikTok’s large user base in jeopardy, Meta could capture a significant portion of users seeking similar short-form video content .

Meta Price Action: Meta shares were up marginally by 0.28% at $500.90 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.