Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.1% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price dropped 1.1% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $650.31 and last traded at $660.57. Approximately 13,254,022 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 15,384,882 shares. The stock had previously closed at $667.73.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total transaction of $400,805.09. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 2,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,802,029.88. The trade was a 18.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total value of $590,056.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 16,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,267,364.73. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $835.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $910.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $844.44.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Secured a multiyear AI content‑licensing deal with News Corp that provides paid access to publisher content for training and retrieval — helps reduce training‑data/legal risk and supports AI product quality. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Announced new applied AI engineering units to speed model development and partner with its Superintelligence Lab — indicates continued R&D investment that could accelerate AI-driven ad and commerce monetization. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta will allow rival AI chatbots access to WhatsApp via its business API in Europe for the next year — the move aims to head off a potential EU temporary injunction (reduces legal tail‑risk) but opens competition on a key messaging channel and involves paid API access. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst moves are mixed: Arete Research reaffirmed a neutral rating while Erste upgraded the stock to buy — visible but not decisive for intraday flow. (Broker notes released 3/5)
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales disclosed: CFO Susan Li sold ~56,571 shares (~$36.5M) and COO Javier Olivan sold additional shares — while commonly plan‑driven, these sizable filings can create headline pressure and near‑term selling. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and content‑risk pressure in major markets: Indonesia issued a “stern warning” over disinformation/gambling and pushed for greater algorithm transparency — possible compliance costs and reputational risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational hiccups this week (Facebook outages for thousands of U.S. users) plus reports Meta trimmed its in‑house chip program — both raise short‑term engagement and execution concerns. Read More. Read More.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $682.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.8% during the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,432 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 34.2% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 52,252 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,373,000 after buying an additional 13,311 shares during the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $3,321,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.6% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 3,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. 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.