Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.3% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price fell 1.3% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $638.12 and last traded at $648.18. 15,627,067 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 15,872,220 shares. The stock had previously closed at $657.01.

Specifically, CFO Susan J. Li sold 55,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total value of $35,293,344.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,354,781.46. This trade represents a 80.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $410,535.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 2,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,882,981.80. This trade represents a 17.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $604,381.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 17,039 shares in the company, valued at $11,121,014.52. The trade was a 5.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reported multiyear deal to rent Google’s TPU chips to accelerate model training — expands Meta’s compute capacity quickly without buying all hardware, supporting AI roadmap and ad/AI monetization prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deal with AMD for GPUs and plans for very large 2026 capex (reported commitments and nuclear power pacts) strengthen Meta’s in‑house training scale and long‑term AI competitiveness, which investors view as revenue‑accretive over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is trialing stablecoin payments across Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp, targeting faster payments and adoption in underbanked markets — a potential new revenue stream and higher engagement in emerging markets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company sued advertisers over celebrity‑impersonation scams and took technical enforcement actions — a move to shore up ad quality and preserve advertiser trust. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher — talent movement highlights competition for AI engineers but is common across the sector and not unique to Meta. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry comparisons show Alphabet gaining share in AI‑fuelled search and investing aggressively — useful context for competitive positioning but not an immediate earnings event. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EU court adviser sided with regulators in a dispute over antitrust data requests — raises regulatory/compliance risk and potential costs in Europe. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile US trial testimony about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep litigation and reputational risk elevated, which can pressure sentiment and regulatory scrutiny. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by CFO Susan Li (55,702 shares) and recent COO selling may be read negatively by some investors, adding near‑term selling pressure despite common non‑signal reasons for sales; SEC filing available. Read More.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%

The stock has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $655.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $685.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.02 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $30,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.