Key Stats for Meta Stock
- Price change for Meta stock in last 6 months: 3%
- $META Stock Price as of Oct. 21: $698
- 52-Week High: $780
- $META Stock Price Target: $818
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What Happened?
A New Mexico court ordered Meta (META) to pay $25 billion in penalties on Wednesday.
The case comes from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which began in 2018, and Meta stock investors now have another legal cost to weigh.
A jury in Santa Fe found Meta liable in September and said the company misled New Mexico residents about how it protects and collects user data.
The jury counted more than 43 million violations of the state’s unfair practices act.
The judge set the final fine. The state was first awarded $219.5 billion, but the penalty was cut to $25 billion.
Judge Francis Mathew said the case supported the highest penalty allowed, which is $5,000 per violation.
Interest will add to the bill and will build at 15% a year until the fine is paid off.
The judge was blunt about Meta’s past actions and wrote that Facebook did not carry out the full investigation it promised after the scandal. He called its internal review “willfully ineffective.”
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the order shows that violations carry real consequences.
Meta’s chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, disagreed and said the company is confident it will win on appeal.
He also said the ruling makes it “all but impossible” to do business in New Mexico.
This is not Meta’s first legal loss in the state, given a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in March in a child safety case.
A judge later ordered $567 million more into an abatement fund.
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What the Market Is Telling Us About Meta Stock
The fine is large, but the appeal could take time. Meta stock may stay under pressure while investors wait to see how much Meta ends up paying.
Meta reported $64.6 billion in Q3 revenue on Wednesday, up 26% from last year, and also booked a $9.9 billion legal charge in that quarter for a separate multistate settlement.
Meta said it was monitoring other legal matters that could hit its business and results.
Meta also has $82.4 billion in cash and marketable securities, more than three times the $25 billion penalty.
Still, Meta stock now faces legal costs on top of heavy AI spending, and capital expenditures for 2026 are expected to be $135 billion to $145 billion.
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So what is Meta stock actually worth?
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
