Citizens has stuck with a Market Outperform rating for Meta Platforms Inc. and maintained a $900.00 price target, a level that implies about a 35% increase from the stock's then-current price of $668.73. InvestingPro assessments indicate Meta is trading close to its Fair Value while the company carries a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion.
Engagement and product changes cited as key drivers
In its note, Citizens pointed to artificial intelligence as a primary mechanism for heightened user engagement, crediting ranking and product enhancements for recent gains. Instagram Reels watch time in the U.S. rose by more than 30% year-over-year, a trend Citizens linked to recommendation improvements that include a simplified ranking architecture and the use of longer interaction histories.
The research house flagged that the engagement uptick corresponds with Meta's 21.27% revenue growth over the last twelve months and an 82.01% gross profit margin, underscoring healthy top-line expansion paired with strong margins.
Specific product metrics and content trends
- Facebook's U.S. video time rose by double digits year-over-year, with fourth-quarter 2025 ranking and product changes producing a 7% increase in views of organic feed and video posts.
- Facebook displayed over 25% more same-day published Reels compared with the prior quarter, reflecting a focus on content freshness and originality.
- On Instagram, the share of original content in U.S. recommendations increased by 10 percentage points during the fourth quarter; roughly 75% of recommendations now originate from original posts.
- Threads also saw benefits from the recommendation engine, recording a 20% rise in time spent.
Citizens expects content relevance and user engagement to steadily improve through 2026 as Meta further embeds large language models into its recommendation systems.
Balance sheet and financial performance
The firm noted Meta operates with modest leverage, pointing to a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. That capital structure, Citizens argued, affords Meta flexibility to keep investing in platform enhancements. In addition, Meta reported solid fourth-quarter 2025 results, with revenue and operating income exceeding consensus estimates by 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively.
Peer and sell-side reactions
Several other investment firms adjusted their targets after the results. BMO Capital raised its price target to $730 while keeping a Market Perform rating. BofA Securities boosted its target to $885 and emphasized the material role of artificial intelligence in lifting returns. Goldman Sachs lifted its target to $835, attributing the move to accelerating momentum in advertising and AI investments. RBC Capital reiterated an Outperform rating, citing the Q4 revenue beat and an upward revision to Q1 guidance as constructive for future spending. William Blair also maintained an Outperform stance, underscoring improving engagement metrics and Meta's AI approach.
Bottom line
Citizens' reaffirmed Market Outperform call and $900 target is grounded in observed engagement gains across Meta's core products, measured improvements in recommendation quality, and the planned integration of larger language models into ranking systems. These factors, together with recent quarter beats and a conservative leverage profile, form the basis for the firm's view that Meta can continue to expand revenue and maintain healthy gross margins.