Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Jul 30th, 2026

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $585.61, but opened at $526.00. Meta Platforms shares last traded at $532.8960, with a volume of 10,145,779 shares trading hands.

The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.14 earnings per share.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue, impressions and average price per ad also showed solid growth, while AI-powered personalization helped drive double-digit increases in Instagram usage. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings following the selloff. Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 target, while Rosenblatt, KeyCorp, Bank of America and Monness Crespi & Hardt retained Buy or Overweight ratings despite reducing their targets. Analyst Price Target Updates
Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with BlackRock to develop a $14 billion, one-gigawatt Texas data-center campus could shift part of its AI infrastructure burden to outside capital while preserving access to computing capacity. Meta is also exploring leasing excess compute to other AI companies, creating a potential new revenue stream. Meta and BlackRock Form AI Data Center Venture
Neutral Sentiment: Management is positioning AI agents, enterprise services and smart glasses as future monetization opportunities, but investors are seeking clearer evidence that these initiatives will generate returns.
Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below the roughly $7.19 consensus and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal charges of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of approximately $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, although analysts argue underlying margins remained relatively strong. Meta Misses Profit Expectations
Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and infrastructure this year. Capital expenditures consumed nearly all of its $31.9 billion in quarterly operating cash flow, causing free cash flow to plunge and intensifying concerns about margin pressure and uncertain AI returns. Meta’s AI Spending and Compute Strategy
Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint expectations, adding to the market’s concern that spending is rising faster than near-term monetization. Reality Labs also reported a loss exceeding $4.6 billion, while India summoned Meta executives over a briefly restricted post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding a regulatory headline risk.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $725.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $806.00.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on META

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,325 shares of company stock worth $23,979,087. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Keeler Thomas Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Keeler Thomas Management LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.7% during the second quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 38,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,477,000 after purchasing an additional 5,820 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 5,153,161 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,902,724,000 after purchasing an additional 76,730 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 107,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $63,573,000 after purchasing an additional 5,218 shares during the period. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.2% in the second quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,461 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,329,000 after buying an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $603.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $624.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25.

About Meta Platforms

(Get Free Report)

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.