Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) dropped 1.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $594.45 and last traded at $595.19. 11,317,116 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 16,727,107 shares. The stock had previously closed at $606.10.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $604.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $625.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319 over the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Intergy Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 23,553 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,267,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. now owns 2,603 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,493 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the second quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 43,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,661,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.