Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares dropped 1.7% during mid-day trading on Monday 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 $641.22 and last traded at $641.97. Approximately 14,502,082 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 12,551,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $653.06.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $822.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.69, for a total transaction of $341,860.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,876,738.02. This trade represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,038 shares of company stock worth $25,500,705. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Senior hire to accelerate AI and deal-making — Meta appointed Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair and added former White House advisors to lead AI projects, strengthening relationships with capital and policy partners that could speed Meta’s AI-commercialization. Meta hires Dina Powell McCormick
• Positive Sentiment: Clear AI infrastructure strategy — CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced “Meta Compute,” a plan to build tens to hundreds of gigawatts of compute capacity over time, signalling a focused, long-term commitment to proprietary AI stack and enterprise offerings. This could deepen competitive moats if execution succeeds. Meta to build gigawatt-scale computing capacity
• Neutral Sentiment: Energy deals to secure baseload power — Meta prepaid for nuclear and other energy projects (e.g., Oklo, Vistra pipeline) to lock in power for 24/7 AI workloads. Strategically bullish long term, but the payoff is multi-year and increases near-term capital intensity. Power Hungry: Inside Meta’s Huge Investment in a Nuclear Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/compliance activity — Meta deleted ~550,000 Australian accounts to comply with a new under‑16s ban and is engaging with regulators; operationally expected but underscores regulatory friction in key markets. Meta urges Australia to rethink under-16 social media ban
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs restructuring — Reports say Meta will cut 10–15% of Reality Labs employees this week. While a cost-cutting step, it signals retrenchment in metaverse investments and highlights management reallocating resources toward AI — a near‑term uncertainty for investors watching growth/margin tradeoffs. Meta Plans to Cut 10% to 15% of Employees in Reality Labs Business
• Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity and margin pressure — Large capex guidance (energy + data centers + AI) and heavy prepayments raise near-term cash outflows and execution risk; analysts’ minor target adjustments and valuation concerns are weighing on the stock. Analyst price target update

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,823,375,000 after buying an additional 278,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $641.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $703.52. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a PEG 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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