Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.7% during trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $802.00 to $795.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Meta Platforms traded as low as $624.10 and last traded at $631.09. 17,888,955 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 35% from the average session volume of 13,258,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $641.97.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $650.41, for a total value of $336,261.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,598,740.03. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total value of $341,860.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 40,519 shares of company stock worth $25,133,331 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand / product scaling potential — Meta and EssilorLuxottica are discussing doubling Ray‑Ban Meta smart‑glasses production (10M → 20M units, with upside to 30M) if demand holds, supporting a new revenue stream outside advertising. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/upside signals — TD Cowen raised its price target to $820 and maintains a buy stance, giving sizeable upside vs. the current price and signaling some analyst conviction in Meta’s AI strategy. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure moat — Meta’s Meta Compute plan and linked energy deals (including a large Oklo/advanced‑nuclear partnership and a 6.6 GW pipeline) position the company to secure baseload power for AI data centers, potentially de‑risking long‑term AI capacity constraints. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership hire to drive AI execution — Meta named Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair to help steer the AI build‑out; this can improve execution but won’t immediately move revenue. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ad revenue / capex debate continues — Bullish analysts argue accelerating ad revenue funds heavy capex (Seeking Alpha: “Buy the Dip”), but that spending cadence keeps headline volatility high. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs layoffs — Meta is cutting roughly 10–15% of Reality Labs staff (reports up to ~1,500 roles) as it shifts resources from VR/metaverse to AI wearables and infrastructure; layoffs highlight challenges in the metaverse business and raise near‑term execution/PR risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure — Brazil ordered Meta to suspend a WhatsApp policy banning third‑party AI chatbots and opened investigations into WhatsApp Business terms, adding regulatory uncertainty to Meta’s platform/AI plans. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism of the AI buildout — High‑profile skeptics (e.g., Michael Burry) warned about Meta’s large AI capacity push, which can amplify short‑term selling pressure as investors weigh long‑dated returns vs. huge near‑term CapEx. Read More.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Spirepoint Private Client LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the second quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,790,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $130,467,000 after buying an additional 38,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 210,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $155,387,000 after buying an additional 20,912 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7%

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $641.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $702.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

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.