Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.6% – Should You Sell?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was down 1.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $636.18 and last traded at $637.71. Approximately 32,184,738 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 114% from the average daily volume of 15,020,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $648.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $738.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $699.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total value of $12,181,113.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $782.13, for a total value of $2,042,923.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,951,227.17. This trade represents a 25.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 181,971 shares of company stock valued at $140,461,589 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Argent Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.5% during the third quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 1,602 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,176,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,366 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,753,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,990 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,149,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.9% during the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 686 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFC Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third quarter. IFC Advisors LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,066,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.