Meta stock jumps over 10% as Wells Fargo lifts price target to $796 on AI progress

META closed up 11.4% at $741.25 on September 21, 2026 after Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock to $796 from $640. Analyst Ken Gawrelski kept his Overweight rating unchanged, so this was a target raise rather than a ratings upgrade, and he based the new number on 25 times the firm's 2027 earnings estimate, up from a prior multiple of 20 times.

The rerating rests on Muse, the personal AI agent Meta launched on September 8 that can send emails, book travel and fill out forms, and keep working after the user closes the app. Muse was the most-downloaded free iPhone app in the United States over the prior three days and is sold in paid tiers at $20 and $100 a month alongside the free version, which is the first evidence investors have had that Meta can charge directly for an AI product rather than monetizing it through ads.

The same Wells Fargo note carried a caution the rally largely looked through: the firm cut its 2026 operating income estimate by about 12% to account for a $10 billion legal settlement charge it expects in the third quarter. The new $796 target also sits above the broader sell-side, where SentiSense analyst consensus is an average target of $755.28 across 56 covering analysts against a $580.00 low and a $1,000.00 high, with 56 buy and 6 hold ratings and no sells.

The read-through reached semiconductors, with Arm up 13%, Intel up 12% and AMD up 9% on the argument that autonomous agents raise CPU work per unit of compute. That move and Meta's own share move are better read as parallel reactions to the same Muse demand data than as one causing the other. The near-term test is Meta Connect on September 23 and 24, where investors will look for disclosed Muse usage and any guidance on what AI subscriptions could contribute to revenue. Shares touched an intraday high near $753 before settling back, so the market is already paying for engagement numbers the company has not yet published.