Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Up 2% – Time to Buy?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price rose 2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $570.80 and last traded at $570.05. Approximately 9,656,064 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 16,755,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $559.02.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Advertising growth and AI investment support the bull case. Meta’s advertising business continues to benefit from stronger user engagement, AI-powered ad tools and increased advertiser adoption, helping the company maintain an advantage over Snap and Reddit. The hiring of former OpenAI researcher Luke Metz for Meta’s Superintelligence Labs also underscores its effort to strengthen AI capabilities. META Rides on Ad Growth: Can It Stay Ahead of RDDT and SNAP? Former OpenAI researcher joins Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional and market interest remains supportive. Reports that prominent investors purchased Meta shares during the second quarter, along with a broader rebound in some social-media stocks, may be reinforcing confidence in META’s long-term growth prospects. Two Legendary Investors Just Bought Meta Platforms Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling is drawing attention but lacks clear directional significance. Unusually active Meta insider-trading activity, particularly on August 18, could concern investors, though the report does not establish whether the transactions reflect fundamental deterioration or routine selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Child-safety litigation is the most significant near-term overhang. Instagram head Adam Mosseri is expected to testify in a lawsuit brought by 29 U.S. states alleging that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and misled consumers about platform safety. An adverse outcome could lead to fines, operational restrictions or costly redesigns of the services. Instagram head Adam Mosseri to testify at Meta trial
• Negative Sentiment: Recent earnings execution remains a concern. Meta’s latest quarterly EPS of $6.18 missed the $7.19 consensus estimate, despite revenue exceeding expectations and rising 28% year over year. Investors may therefore focus on whether heavy AI spending can translate into sustained earnings growth.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $770.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $835.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $840.00 to $770.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,015.00 to $883.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $592.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $613.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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 firm posted $7.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.61, for a total transaction of $5,063,409.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,260,343.46. The trade was a 41.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.00, for a total transaction of $4,379,184.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,024. This trade represents a 90.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 37,036 shares of company stock valued at $21,710,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Headwater Capital Co Ltd lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.