Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) fell 1.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $598.08 and last traded at $598.86. 15,530,417 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 16,038,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $609.63.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Negative Sentiment: Santa Clara County sued Meta, alleging the company earned money from scam advertisements on Facebook and Instagram and violated California false advertising and unfair business practices laws. California county sues Meta over scam ads
• Negative Sentiment: Another report highlighted the same lawsuit, framing it as a claim that Meta earned billions from scam Facebook ads, reinforcing investor worries about reputational damage and possible legal costs. Meta accused of earning billions from scam Facebook ads in new California lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: A plaintiffs’ law firm also announced an investigation into Meta’s board over possible breaches of fiduciary duty tied to privacy oversight and AI training practices, which could keep governance concerns in focus. Berger Montague PC Investigates Meta Platforms, Inc.’s Board of Directors for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (META)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive overall, with coverage noting that Wall Street still sees upside in Meta despite recent post-earnings volatility, which may help limit downside. Meta Platforms’ Wild Post-Earnings Swings: Where Analyst Price Targets Stand Now

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Arete Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $840.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $627.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $645.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 167,676 shares of company stock valued at $107,299,848. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional 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 fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during 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. 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.