Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.2% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was down 1.2% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $649.20 and last traded at $649.50. Approximately 14,607,496 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 15,519,231 shares. The stock had previously closed at $657.15.

Specifically, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,983,882. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total transaction of $333,982.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 13,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,549,164. The trade was a 3.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total transaction of $344,699.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,067,594.40. The trade was a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $880.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $900.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $818.59.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reported to be developing new multimodal AI — an image/video model codenamed “Mango” and a text model called “Avocado” targeted for H1‑2026, which could accelerate product differentiation and ad/engagement upgrades. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: U.S. federal action on AI (an executive order to create a national AI framework) is being viewed as a net positive for Big Tech — it could reduce a patchwork of state rules and lower compliance complexity for large platforms like Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush trimmed its price target from $920 to $880 but kept an “outperform” rating — the cut tempers upside expectations but the firm still implies substantial upside vs. current levels. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Austrias Supreme Court ruled Meta’s personalized ad model unlawful and ordered sweeping user‑data access changes across the EU — this is a binding precedent that raises regulatory, compliance and revenue risk in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders (including General Counsel Jennifer Newstead and COO Javier Olivan) have sold blocks of shares in recent weeks — repeated insider sales can be perceived negatively by the market even if amounts are small relative to overall holdings. Read More. Read More.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $659.76 and its 200-day moving average is $707.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.