Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.6% – What’s Next?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price fell 2.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $624.00 and last traded at $627.17. Approximately 10,570,460 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 16,790,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $643.81.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: A teen plaintiff dropped his lawsuit against Meta over alleged social-media addiction harms just days before trial, removing a near-term legal overhang for the company. Reuters: Teen plaintiff suing Meta over mental health harms drops his claims against company days before trial
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen supply-chain checks and other reports point to record hyperscaler demand for data-center capacity, with Meta highlighted as one of the biggest drivers of leasing activity tied to AI infrastructure growth. 247WallSt: Sorry, AI Bears: Meta, Microsoft, and Google Lead Record Data Center Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies said Meta’s AI glasses could become a meaningful long-term hardware growth opportunity, citing first-mover advantage and strong product feedback. Proactive Investors: Meta’s AI glasses position company for long-term hardware growth, Jefferies says
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo and Rothschild & Co Redburn both raised price targets on Meta, reinforcing bullish sentiment ahead of earnings. Benzinga: Meta Platforms had its price target raised…
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America said Meta is likely to beat second-quarter expectations, supported by healthy ad demand and AI-driven improvements. Proactive Investors: Meta Platforms expected to top earnings estimates…
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta is also being watched for its expanding AI spending and potential compute-leasing strategy, which could help margins long term but also raises questions about capital intensity. Benzinga: Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Earnings Will Spotlight AI Spending…
• Negative Sentiment: France approved a social-media ban for users under 15, adding another potential regulatory headwind for platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Benzinga: France Just Took on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X…
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines continued to highlight legal and worker-related AI concerns, including a lawsuit alleging Meta used discriminatory AI tools in layoffs. Reuters: Meta employees’ lawsuit shows that if AI fires you…

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,015.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Susquehanna upgraded Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.6%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $604.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $626.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm 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 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms 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 value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% 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 have sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 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 buying an additional 7,269,279 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth 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. State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,734,628,000 after acquiring an additional 878,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,112,735,000 after acquiring an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. 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.