Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.7% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price traded down 2.7% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $645.57 and last traded at $648.35. 55,173,860 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 270% from the average session volume of 14,929,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $666.47.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,900,268. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $738.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $696.73. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,008 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,209,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,509 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,046,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 2,827 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 145,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $106,709,000 after buying an additional 6,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,979 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,797,000 after buying an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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.