Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 2.3% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Meta Platforms' stock price fell by 2.3% after insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares, decreasing her ownership by 1.71%.
• Multiple analysts have provided positive outlooks on Meta, with several increasing their price targets significantly, reflecting confidence in the company’s growth potential.
• Meta recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing a 0.3% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 7.60%.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 2.3% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $710.18 and last traded at $710.56. 16,050,705 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 10% from the average session volume of 14,594,915 shares. The stock had previously closed at $727.05.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $741.50, for a total value of $384,838.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,832 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,120,428. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $748.72, for a total transaction of $387,088.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,506,666.72. This represents a 4.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $830.02.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company's 50 day moving average price is $753.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $673.93.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.60%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,560 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 359 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,731,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.

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