Susan Li Sells 9,196 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li sold 9,196 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total value of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,260,343.46. This represents a 41.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.0%

META stock traded down $0.20 on Thursday, reaching $545.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,828,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,841,658. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $594.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $617.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.91%.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts say Meta’s heavy AI investments could eventually unlock significant revenue through better ad targeting, business agents, consumer subscriptions and enterprise tools. Meta’s advertising business remains strong, with recent revenue growth supported by higher ad impressions, pricing and AI-driven engagement. Meta’s AI Spending Could Unlock Abundant Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Meta expanded its experimental Pocket app across the United States. The AI-powered service allows users to create and share interactive games and other content, offering a potential new engagement channel and a test bed for future AI products. Meta brings Pocket to US users
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also launched a Mac app for Meta AI featuring system-wide dictation and screen-aware assistance. Separately, longtime Meta reporter Alex Heath argued that the company may be closer than investors expect to releasing frontier-level AI models, potentially improving sentiment around its AI strategy. Meta AI launches a Mac app
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s child-safety trial involving 29 states remains the dominant market concern. Prosecutors allege Facebook and Instagram were designed to encourage compulsive use among young people and that the company failed to address known risks. Even if Meta prevails, the case could prompt changes to product design, youth access and safety policies. Meta’s Trial Could Change Instagram Even If the Company Wins
• Negative Sentiment: Former employees testified that some safety tools were “designed to fail,” intensifying reputational and litigation risks. Potential penalties and mandated platform changes could weigh on engagement, ad monetization and investor confidence. Some of Meta’s safety tools were designed to fail
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated AI capital expenditures will pressure free cash flow and may not generate returns quickly enough. A recent earnings miss and the absence of direct compute revenue increase skepticism about whether Meta’s spending can justify its valuation. Meta’s H2 2026 risks and rebound prospects

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $766.00 to $715.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $785.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,152,075,000. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 723.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 8,801,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,957,946,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732,446 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth approximately $2,948,486,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.