Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li Sells 55,702 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li sold 55,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.61, for a total transaction of $35,293,344.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,354,781.46. The trade was a 80.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ META opened at $657.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $656.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $686.79. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Major AI infrastructure deals — Meta expanded its multi‑year AI hardware partnerships (AMD GPUs commitment and a reported multibillion‑dollar arrangement to rent Google TPUs) that accelerate model training scale and support ad/AI revenue growth expectations. Meta-AMD AI deal boosts scale Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Enforcement vs. ad scams — Meta filed lawsuits and took technical enforcement actions against advertisers accused of celebrity‑impersonation scams, a move aimed at protecting ad quality and user trust (positive for advertiser relationships and brand safety). Meta Platforms files lawsuits against scam advertisers
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell meaningfully in February, reducing near‑term bearish pressure and signaling less hedge‑fund pessimism about the shares.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor access / visibility — CFO Susan Li will present at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference March 4, providing an opportunity for management to update on capex, AI cadence and monetization plans. Meta to Participate in the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent turnover — OpenAI hired a high‑profile Meta AI researcher; talent movement in the AI space is noteworthy but common, and Meta’s broad AI hiring and partnerships partly offset concerns. OpenAI hires Meta AI researcher
• Negative Sentiment: EU legal pressure — An adviser to Europe’s top court backed regulators in a dispute over Meta’s antitrust information requests, increasing regulatory risk and potential compliance costs in the region. EU court adviser rejects Meta’s fight
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing litigation and reputation risk — Testimony in a high‑profile California trial about social‑media harms and new Instagram parent‑alert policies keep regulatory/legal scrutiny and potential liabilities on investors’ radars. Woman suing Meta, YouTube expected to testify Instagram to alert parents of teen searches
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Recent large share sales by senior executives (CFO and COO) may be read negatively by some investors even though insiders often sell for diversification or tax reasons. SEC filing: Susan J. Li sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $860.00 price target (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

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.