Robert Kimmitt Sells 580 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Director Robert Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.28, for a total value of $358,602.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,454,330.36. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $612.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $640.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $697.92. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.29.

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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $825.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research set a $718.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $821.55.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $37,902,948,000 after purchasing an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after buying an additional 278,180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta will begin showing ads on Threads globally next week — Threads has passed ~400M users and data suggests rapid DAU growth versus X; global ad availability is a direct near‑term revenue catalyst as the company starts to monetize that audience. Meta to begin rolling out Threads ads globally
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s new AI lab (Superintelligence Labs) has delivered its first in‑house models, per the CTO — this progress supports product differentiation, reduces dependency on third‑party models, and improves the narrative around AI ROI for Meta’s heavy capex. Exclusive: Meta’s new AI team has delivered first key models
• Positive Sentiment: Oklo’s stock upgrade highlights Meta’s agreement to use advanced nuclear power for data centers — a multi‑year, binding energy supply deal could lower long‑term data‑center energy costs and improve sustainability credentials. Oklo Stock Upgraded to Buy. Meta Nuclear Deal Is a ‘Meaningful Step Forward.
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS trimmed its price target (from $915 to $830) but kept a buy rating — analysts still see upside, though the lowered target highlights ongoing uncertainty around timing/returns of AI investments. UBS lowers META price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta cut ~1,500 Reality Labs roles and reported additional smaller layoffs — a cost‑reduction move that trims losses in non‑core metaverse projects but signals scaling back of prior bets. Meta lays off 331 workers in Washington state
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC will appeal its loss in the antitrust case over Instagram and WhatsApp — renewed legal risk keeps a regulatory overhang that could drive volatility and potential future remedies. FTC will appeal ruling in Meta antitrust case
• Negative Sentiment: Some customers left Manus after Meta’s ~$2B acquisition — customer attrition and privacy concerns around the buy create execution and reputational risk for Meta’s AI push. Meta’s $2 billion Manus deal pushes away some customers
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator alleges Meta profited from illegal gambling ads — another regulatory/PR headwind that could prompt stricter oversight or fines in key markets. Britain accuses Meta of profiting from illegal gambling ads
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: a director sold 580 shares (filed disclosure) — small size but sometimes taken by investors as a modest negative signal. Insider filing: Kimmitt sale

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.