How to buy Meta Platforms shares

Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms and its symbol to META. Here's how to own the stock.

META, previously known as Facebook, is a tech company based in California. With 2.91 billion users, Meta is best known for the development of Facebook, as well as owning Instagram and WhatsApp. The company runs its own payment systems, recently renamed as Meta Pay, as well as taking centre state in virtual reality.

How to buy shares in Meta Platforms

  1. Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share trading platform picks below can help you choose.
  2. Open your account. Provide your personal information and sign up.
  3. Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
  4. Search the platform for stock code: META in this case.
  5. Research shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
  6. Buy your shares. Place a market order or limit order with your preferred number of shares. It's that simple.
The whole process can take as little as 15 minutes. You'll need a smartphone or computer, an internet connection, your passport or driving licence and a means of payment.

Our top picks for where to buy Meta Platforms shares

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Fees calculator for buying Meta Platforms shares with popular apps

Both exchange rates and share prices fluctuate in real time, so the costs estimated here should be considered as a guide only. They don't factor in spreads, which can be hard to pin down. Always refer to the platform itself for availability and pricing.

Quantity of shares

2
Platform Finder score Account fee Min. initial deposit Trade cost Link
eToro Free Stocks logo
4.39/5 ★★★★★
£0 $100 £773.28
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XTB logo
4.3/5 ★★★★★
£0 £0 £773.28
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Hargreaves Lansdown Fund and Share Account logo
4.2/5 ★★★★★
£0 £1 £789.08
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CMC Invest share dealing account logo
4.38/5 ★★★★★
£0 £0 £773.28
Read reviewCapital at risk

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These providers cover a wide range of stocks, but we can't guarantee they'll all offer this stock.

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

Alternative ways to invest in Meta Platforms

Buying shares in just one company is generally considered a riskier bet than investing in a range of investments - AKA a "diversified portfolio". Experts generally recommend holding a mix of investments in specific assets and funds. Funds are ready-made portfolios of multiple companies' shares (potentially including Meta Platforms), and the idea is that drops in the value of one constituent company's share price might be offset by rises in others.

Meta Platforms is a major part of the NASDAQ, so it's included in many global funds and investment trusts, as well as tracker-style exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Latest updates for Meta Platforms

March 17, 2024: Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski maintained an overweight rating on Meta and updated the price target from $536 to $609, according to Benzinga.

March 10, 2024: Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and one of the stars of the recent market rally, fell about 4% on Monday after Trump labeled Facebook “an enemy of the people,” according to CNN.

March 5, 2024: Meta’s hefty investment in artificial intelligence includes development of an AI system designed to power Facebook’s entire video recommendation engine across all its platforms, a company executive said Wednesday, according to CNBC.

February 29, 2024: Meta stock crossed the $500 mark – recording a new all-time-high during Friday’s trading session. The stock is already up over 40% YTD and has had a good run-up of 185% over the past year, making it the second-highest price returns generator among the Magnificent Seven stocks, according to Benzinga.

Is it a good time to buy Meta Platforms stock?

Only you can make the decision on the time to leap... but here's some supporting information and analysis.

Use our graph to track the performance of META stocks over time.

Share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Meta Platforms's shares have ranged in value from as little as $202.605 up to $523.57. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

META.US volatility(beta: 1.21)Avg. volatility(beta: 1.00)LowHigh

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Meta Platforms's is 1.208. This would suggest that Meta Platforms's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Historical closes compared with the last close of $486.43

1 week (2024-03-20)-4.20%
1 month (2024-02-27)0.50%
3 months (2023-12-27)35.75%
6 months (2023-09-27)60.03%
1 year (2023-03-27)142.39%
2 years (2022-03-27)117.55%
3 years (2021-03-25)71.87%
5 years (2019-03-27)193.83%

The gauge below shows real-time ratings that are based on 26 popular indicators such as moving averages, for specific time periods. It's not a recommendation but is simply technical analysis that can form part of your research.

Finder might not agree with the analysis and we take no responsibility. We also give no representations or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the information provided on this page.

georgesweeney profile picGeorge Sweeney

Finder Money Expert

Meta rebranded from Facebook in October 2021 to reflect the fact that it would be shifting to build the “metaverse”, a virtual world with augmented reality features.

In early February, Meta reported that it hadn’t grown its monthly users, had seen a decline in its profits and that it was expecting no growth in revenue. It estimated that measures from Apple to protect user privacy would cost the company $10 billion in ad revenue (£8.2 billion).

Last November, Meta laid off 13% of its workforce (11,000 employees), saying that it had been a mistake to increase investments so “aggressively”. The company had incorrectly predicted that the surge in e-commerce that it saw during the coronavirus pandemic would continue. Meta faces the same challenges in 2023 as similar tech stocks.

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All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

Is Meta Platforms under- or over-valued?

Valuing a stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge value. Check out the Meta Platforms P/E ratio, PEG ratio and EBITDA

Meta Platforms's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 33x. In other words, Meta Platforms shares trade at around 33x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the United States stock markets on average as of November 09, 2023 (20.44). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

However, Meta Platforms's P/E ratio is best considered in relation to those of others within the industry or those of similar companies.

Meta Platforms's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.1262. A PEG ratio close to 1 can be interpreted as meaning shares offer reasonable value for the current rate of growth.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Meta Platforms's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

However, it's sensible to consider Meta Platforms's PEG ratio in relation to those of similar companies.

Meta Platforms's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is a whopping $61.4 billion (£48.5 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Meta Platforms's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

To put that into context you can compare it against similar companies.

Frequently asked questions

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

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