Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 2% – Should You Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares fell 2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $598.01 and last traded at $603.12. 13,297,285 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 16,609,521 shares. The stock had previously closed at $615.58.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta rolled out Muse Image, its first image-generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, across Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The new tool could increase user engagement and give Meta more ad-targeting and creator monetization opportunities. Meta expands generative AI tools with Muse Image rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Meta from hold to buy, reinforcing the view that the stock remains attractive despite recent weakness. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Raised to “Buy” at Erste Group Bank
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Meta’s strong ads business, heavy free cash flow, and potential to monetize excess AI/data-center capacity, which supports the long-term investment case. A $6.5 Billion Reason to Bet on Meta Platforms Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is also being discussed as a possible entrant into the neocloud/cloud-compute rental market, but that opportunity is still speculative and not yet a confirmed earnings driver. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Just Delivered Fantastic News for Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Meta disclosed that four U.S. states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in a youth-safety trial, creating a very large legal risk that is weighing on sentiment. Meta says US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties in August youth safety trial
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta’s AI progress has “not really accelerated” as expected, plus ongoing scrutiny of its AI glasses and content/privacy issues, may raise concerns about how quickly heavy AI spending will pay off.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by a Meta director adds a small additional headwind to market sentiment, even though the sale was pre-planned under a 10b5-1 program.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. UBS Group downgraded Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.92, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $600.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $627.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. The trade was a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,513 shares of company stock worth $24,419,874. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 6,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.