Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Insider Jennifer Newstead Sells 519 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.38, for a total value of $342,218.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 29,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,238,730.26. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.23, for a total value of $333,836.37.
• On Tuesday, December 9th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total value of $344,699.04.
• On Tuesday, December 2nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18.
• On Tuesday, November 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.14, for a total value of $323,928.66.
• On Tuesday, November 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $307,040.40.
• On Monday, November 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 516 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.00, for a total transaction of $325,596.00.
• On Tuesday, November 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total transaction of $325,932.00.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00.
• On Tuesday, October 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03.
• On Tuesday, October 14th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total transaction of $367,374.15.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $664.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $707.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Baird reaffirmed an “Outperform” rating on META and kept a high price target (trimmed slightly to $815), signaling continued analyst confidence in ad recovery and AI-driven margin upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report analysts remain generally bullish on Meta heading into 2026, supporting demand for shares as investors position for AI monetization and ad strength. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum: reports of a new “Mango” AI model and a software update improving noise reduction for Meta’s AI glasses bolster prospects for differentiated AI features that can lift user engagement and ad effectiveness. Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Ad product execution: Ads Uploader exiting beta in 30 countries could improve ad operations for agencies (incremental revenue/enhanced ad spend efficiency), but impact will be gradual. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/market commentary notes momentum cooling below resistance around $675 — useful for short‑term traders but not a direct fundamental change. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Two insider sales were filed this week: Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares and COO Javier Oliván sold 517 shares — small dollar amounts relative to insider holdings but sometimes interpreted negatively by short‑term traders. Newstead SEC Filing Oliván SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Product/policy headwinds: reports that Meta is testing pay‑walls for URLs in Facebook posts and limiting links could hurt creators and small business marketers, a potential risk to engagement and ad demand if widespread. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational risk: FTC data highlights $65M in rental scams since 2020 that often originate on Facebook, reminding investors of regulatory and trust issues that could pressure engagement or attract enforcement. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.22.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $1,191,175,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.