The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings often affect a stock's price. Do they really matter, though? Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Meta Platforms ( META - Free Report ) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage. Meta Platforms currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.29, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 45 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.29 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy. Of the 45 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 39 are Strong Buy and one is Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 86.7% and 2.2% of all recommendations.