Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.3% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) fell 1.3% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $638.12 and last traded at $648.18. 15,627,067 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 15,872,220 shares. The stock had previously closed at $657.01.

Specifically, CFO Susan J. Li sold 55,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total value of $35,293,344.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,354,781.46. The trade was a 80.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total transaction of $410,535.72. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,882,981.80. This represents a 17.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $604,381.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 17,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,121,014.52. The trade was a 5.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $849.00 to $856.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $655.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $685.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.