Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells $342,218.22 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.38, for a total transaction of $342,218.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,238,730.26. This trade represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.23, for a total value of $333,836.37.
• On Tuesday, December 9th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total value of $344,699.04.
• On Tuesday, December 2nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18.
• On Tuesday, November 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.14, for a total value of $323,928.66.
• On Tuesday, November 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total value of $307,040.40.
• On Monday, November 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 516 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.00, for a total transaction of $325,596.00.
• On Tuesday, November 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total transaction of $325,932.00.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00.
• On Tuesday, October 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03.
• On Tuesday, October 14th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total transaction of $367,374.15.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $666.94 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $655.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $706.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.03 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $810.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $900.00 price objective (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.22.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 43.4% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 148,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $109,153,000 after buying an additional 44,997 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 4,978 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 49.5% in the third quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 25,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 8,430 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 180.2% during the third quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 3,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta debuted its first augmented‑reality smart glasses and continues to present AR/AI hardware as a multi‑year growth runway that could meaningfully expand monetizable user engagement over time. Long‑term device roadmap commentary supports the AI/AR investment narrative. Billionaires Are Buying an AI Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains broadly positive: many analysts keep Buy/Outperform ratings and elevated price targets (median targets near the low‑to‑mid $800s), reinforcing demand as investors position for AI monetization and ad recovery. Analyst & Social Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for December shows effectively zero days-to-cover in the published snapshot — likely a data anomaly rather than a meaningful shift in positioning; treat as noise until validated by exchanges. (No single authoritative article; internal data feed.)
• Negative Sentiment: Italy’s antitrust regulator ordered Meta to suspend WhatsApp contract terms that could block rival AI chatbots while it investigates abuse of dominance — this escalates EU scrutiny of Meta’s AI integration and could force product/policy changes or fines. Reuters: Italy watchdog
• Negative Sentiment: Policy tests limiting links in Facebook posts (paywalls/URL limits for non‑verified users) could hurt creators and small business marketers, risking engagement and ad demand if rolled out broadly. MSN: Link limit impact
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over Meta’s large AI capex persists — commentators and some analysts question whether the company’s ~$75B AI investment will deliver timely returns, which can pressure sentiment if near‑term margins or cash flow disappoint. YouTube: META’s $75B AI Bet
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling filings (COO Javier Oliván and other officers) have been highlighted by data services; amounts are small vs. total holdings but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. MarketBeat: Insider trades
• Negative Sentiment: Broker/forecast notes (e.g., a pessimistic Baird piece cited) add near‑term target downside narratives that can amplify volatility when paired with regulatory headlines. AmericanBankingNews: Baird forecast

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.