Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report)’s stock price was down 2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $598.01 and last traded at $603.12. Approximately 13,297,285 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 16,609,521 shares. The stock had previously closed at $615.58.
Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 1,887 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.62, for a total value of $1,133,369.94. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,802 shares in the company, valued at $1,082,317.24. The trade was a 51.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. This trade represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Meta Platforms from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $838.26.
Meta Platforms News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI products and planned in-house chip production are fueling optimism that the company can turn its huge AI spending into new revenue and lower infrastructure costs. Meta to put AI chip into production in September as it looks to double computing capacity, memo shows
- Positive Sentiment: Investors are also reacting to Meta’s broader AI monetization push, including developer access to Muse Spark 1.1 and aggressive pricing meant to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary has turned more constructive, with analysts and market watchers saying Meta’s AI strategy and compute expansion may support further upside after a weak first half. Meta’s stock heads for best week since early 2024 as optimism builds around AI strategy
- Neutral Sentiment: Meta is also drawing attention for plans to build a large AI data center in Alberta, which supports long-term capacity growth but adds to near-term capital spending. Meta to build C$13 billion Alberta data center, its first in Canada
- Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk is weighing on sentiment after the European Union said Facebook and Instagram may violate digital rules because of “addictive” design features and warned Meta to make changes or face fines. EU tells Instagram, Facebook to change addictive features or risk fines
Meta Platforms Trading Up 6.1%
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $598.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $626.80.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.
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