Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

by · The Markets Daily

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) shares dropped 1.1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $637.76 and last traded at $640.87. Approximately 11,918,846 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 15,504,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $647.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research lowered Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $840.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down previously from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $823.93.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $683.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $706.56.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,306. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total transaction of $4,190,037.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,857,980.20. The trade was a 7.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock worth $26,759,811. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westchester Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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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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