Andrew Bosworth Sells 7,848 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $4,379,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,024. This represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $593.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $615.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $785.32.

More Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta launched Pocket in the U.S., an AI-powered app that lets users create and share interactive games through text prompts. The product could increase engagement and expand Meta’s consumer AI ecosystem. Meta brings Pocket to U.S. users
• Positive Sentiment: Meta introduced a Mac app for Meta AI with system-wide dictation and screen-aware assistance. The company is also pricing its new Muse Code coding agent below Anthropic and OpenAI offerings, potentially helping it attract developers and build AI adoption. Meta AI launches Mac app
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong, with quarterly revenue rising 28% year over year to $60.8 billion. AI-related improvements to recommendations and ad delivery are supporting engagement, clicks and conversion efficiency. Meta drawdown analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is contesting the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to revive monopoly charges. The company argues that Facebook and Instagram users increasingly see recommended content rather than posts from friends, a defense that could influence the case’s regulatory implications. Meta fights FTC monopoly charges
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, CFO Susan Li and insider Curtis Mahoney sold shares worth roughly $10.3 million in aggregate under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. The transactions are limited as discretionary signals but may still affect investor sentiment. Meta insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Child-safety and social-media addiction litigation is intensifying. Testimony alleging that some safety tools were “designed to fail” raises the possibility of major damages, mandated product changes, restrictions on engagement features and pressure on advertising monetization. Meta social media lawsuit trial
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavier AI capital spending will depress second-half free cash flow and increase financial pressure. Those concerns follow Meta’s quarterly EPS miss, despite its revenue beat, and have contributed to the stock’s year-to-date weakness. Meta stock investment analysis

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.