Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li Sells 56,571 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CFO Susan Li sold 56,571 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $654.99. 12,227,550 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,655,145. The business’s 50 day moving average is $655.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $683.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The company had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: News Corp signed a multiyear AI content-licensing deal with Meta that could pay News Corp up to $50M a year — the pact gives Meta authorized training and retrieval access to premium content, reducing legal/quality risk and improving its AI products’ competitiveness. News Corp, Meta in AI Content Licensing Deal Worth Up to $50 Million a Year
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is forming a new applied AI engineering org (flat structure, very high IC:manager ratios) tied to its superintelligence effort and Reality Labs — signals sustained capital allocation to AI talent and product acceleration. Meta is forming a new AI engineering org for its superintelligence push Meta to Create New Applied AI Engineering Organization
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reports Meta is testing an AI-powered shopping research tool for its chatbot — a product move that targets commerce monetization and competes with ChatGPT/Gemini, which could boost future ad/commerce revenue. Meta Explores AI-Powered Shopping Research Tool
• Positive Sentiment: Despite insider sales, institutional accumulation remains strong (reported large institutional inflows and high-profile buys), which supports the stock and suggests long-term conviction among money managers. Meta and Rocket Lab Insiders Sell Shares—So Why Is Wall Street Buying?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation pieces note Meta’s scale (roughly $201B revenue, $60B net income) and mixed short-term returns; these analyses frame current price as reasonable for sustained growth but flag shorter-term cooling. Assessing Meta Platforms (META) Valuation Is Meta Platforms Still Reasonably Priced
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta scrapped its second?generation Olympus AI accelerator suggest a retreat from custom silicon, which may cede more GPU spend to Nvidia/AMD and highlight execution risk and higher external compute cost. Meta’s reported AI chip pullback seen bolstering Nvidia and AMD
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market risk from escalating Middle East tensions is pressuring equities today and can mute upside for mega?cap tech like Meta as investors rotate to safety. Stocks in Turmoil, but Attractive Setups Emerge

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,587,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citizens Jmp reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $785.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.44.

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.