Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells $869,922.00 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Curtis Mahoney sold 1,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total value of $869,922.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,092,006. This trade represents a 44.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $593.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $615.41. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $520.26 and a 1 year high of $790.80.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.32.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after buying an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $322,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.