Susan Li Sells 56,571 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of META stock traded up $1.43 on Tuesday, hitting $654.99. The stock had a trading volume of 12,227,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,655,145. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $655.67 and its 200-day moving average is $683.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective 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. Mizuho lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $850.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $900.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $2,756,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 27.8% in the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 176,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $130,467,000 after acquiring an additional 38,432 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,311 shares in the last quarter. Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $3,321,000. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 23,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: News Corp signed a multiyear AI content-licensing deal with Meta that could pay News Corp up to $50M a year — the pact gives Meta authorized training and retrieval access to premium content, reducing legal/quality risk and improving its AI products’ competitiveness. News Corp, Meta in AI Content Licensing Deal Worth Up to $50 Million a Year
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is forming a new applied AI engineering org (flat structure, very high IC:manager ratios) tied to its superintelligence effort and Reality Labs — signals sustained capital allocation to AI talent and product acceleration. Meta is forming a new AI engineering org for its superintelligence push Meta to Create New Applied AI Engineering Organization
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reports Meta is testing an AI-powered shopping research tool for its chatbot — a product move that targets commerce monetization and competes with ChatGPT/Gemini, which could boost future ad/commerce revenue. Meta Explores AI-Powered Shopping Research Tool
• Positive Sentiment: Despite insider sales, institutional accumulation remains strong (reported large institutional inflows and high-profile buys), which supports the stock and suggests long-term conviction among money managers. Meta and Rocket Lab Insiders Sell Shares—So Why Is Wall Street Buying?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation pieces note Meta’s scale (roughly $201B revenue, $60B net income) and mixed short-term returns; these analyses frame current price as reasonable for sustained growth but flag shorter-term cooling. Assessing Meta Platforms (META) Valuation Is Meta Platforms Still Reasonably Priced
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta scrapped its second‑generation Olympus AI accelerator suggest a retreat from custom silicon, which may cede more GPU spend to Nvidia/AMD and highlight execution risk and higher external compute cost. Meta’s reported AI chip pullback seen bolstering Nvidia and AMD
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market risk from escalating Middle East tensions is pressuring equities today and can mute upside for mega‑cap tech like Meta as investors rotate to safety. Stocks in Turmoil, but Attractive Setups Emerge

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.