Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Up 8.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) rose 8.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $628.28 and last traded at $612.91. Approximately 45,078,607 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 172% from the average daily volume of 16,566,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $563.29.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Meta is considering turning surplus AI infrastructure into a cloud business, which could generate near-term revenue from investments already made in AI. Bloomberg report referenced in multiple articles
• Positive Sentiment: The move would diversify Meta’s business mix and reduce reliance on advertising, while putting it in competition with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Investopedia article
• Positive Sentiment: Traders also showed bullish positioning, with unusually heavy call-option activity suggesting expectations for further upside. Options trading activity source
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also announced personnel changes, naming Alex Schultz its first chief data officer and promoting Denise Moreno to chief marketing officer, moves aimed at improving AI-driven analytics and marketing execution. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Meta lost a bid to dismiss a multi-state lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children, keeping a legal overhang in place. Benzinga article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 8.8%

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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $607.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $629.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.43 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,641.62. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This trade represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 39,013 shares of company stock valued at $24,115,999 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. 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.