Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.3% After Earnings Miss

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares traded down 1.3% on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The company traded as low as $582.22 and last traded at $585.61. Approximately 19,021,702 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average session volume of 16,672,057 shares. The stock had previously closed at $593.41.

The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.13 by ($0.95). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Meta to exceed consensus estimates, citing healthy advertising demand, rising impressions, user engagement and improving AI-powered ad targeting. Bank of America forecasts $60.6 billion in revenue and $7.50 in earnings per share, above consensus estimates of $60.2 billion and $7.18. Meta expected to beat Q2 estimates as AI investments meet investor scrutiny
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with BlackRock to develop a roughly $14 billion, one-gigawatt El Paso data center could reduce the immediate burden of its AI capital expenditures by bringing in outside financing. Meta is expected to retain operating access while holding a minority stake in the project. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Positive Sentiment: Potentially significant new revenue could come from early discussions to lease approximately $10 billion of AI computing capacity to Anthropic, offering a possible way to monetize Meta’s infrastructure investments beyond advertising. Meta in early talks to lease AI compute to Anthropic
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders are pricing a sizable post-earnings move, making the results, forward guidance and capital-expenditure outlook more important than the quarterly beat alone. Investors are particularly focused on whether Meta can show direct AI monetization and continued strength in its core advertising business. Expected Meta post-earnings move
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains favorable: Erste Group raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate to $35.13 from $34.92, while Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 price target.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Meta’s AI spending may continue rising toward $125 billion–$145 billion annually, pressuring margins and free cash flow without a clearly established AI revenue stream. Meta AI spending concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Broader risk-off trading, higher oil prices, uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision and renewed concerns about cheaper AI models are weighing on large technology stocks, including META.
• Negative Sentiment: Zuckerberg’s support for open AI models and opposition to restricting Chinese systems may encourage innovation, but it could create geopolitical and regulatory friction with Washington. Meta also faces ongoing social-media litigation and reported insider selling under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,859 shares of company stock valued at $23,087,979. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3%

The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $603.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $624.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

About Meta Platforms

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.