Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 1.9% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were down 1.9% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $731.00 and last traded at $737.50. Approximately 4,847,492 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 15,249,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $751.48.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total transaction of $400,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,174,200. This represents a 3.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $782.13, for a total transaction of $2,042,923.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,951,227.17. This trade represents a 25.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total transaction of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $727.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $657.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.