Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Director Sells 500 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Director Robert Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $17.39 on Monday, reaching $600.29. 17,211,736 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,616,373. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $602.79 and its 200-day moving average is $628.06. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are optimistic that Meta’s heavy AI spending could pay off if the company turns excess compute capacity into a cloud-like business, potentially opening a new revenue stream. Meta Platforms’ New Cloud Business Could Be a Game Changer for Its Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentators are highlighting Meta’s AI infrastructure buildout as a long-term competitive advantage, with some arguing the market may be underestimating the payoff from its large capex push. Why Wall Street Is Fired Up About Earnings—and Why There May Be Some Concern
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s Threads app has reportedly grown to 500 million users, reinforcing confidence in the company’s ability to keep expanding engagement across its social ecosystem. How Meta’s Threads Became as Popular as X
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are positioning ahead of Meta’s upcoming earnings report, with market focus on whether strong ad demand and AI spending can continue to support growth. What you need to know ahead of Meta Platforms’ earnings release
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing renewed regulatory pressure in India after authorities demanded removal of child-abuse-related content from Instagram, adding to concerns about platform safety and moderation risks. Meta’s woes deepen in India as child abuse ads on Instagram draw government ire
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is restricting engineers from using rival AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s Codex underscore the intensity of its AI race, but also highlight internal concern around data security and development controls. Here’s Why Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) is Restricting Engineers from Using Anthropic’s Claude

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $876,000. Becker Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.2% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,091,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.