Jennifer Newstead Sells 519 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $307,040.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 34,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,487,699.60. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 516 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.00, for a total transaction of $325,596.00.
• On Tuesday, November 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total transaction of $325,932.00.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00.
• On Tuesday, October 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total value of $382,176.03.
• On Tuesday, October 14th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total value of $367,374.15.
• On Tuesday, October 7th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.98, for a total value of $372,112.62.
• On Tuesday, September 30th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $741.50, for a total value of $384,838.50.
• On Tuesday, September 23rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $769.20, for a total value of $399,214.80.
• On Tuesday, September 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.16, for a total transaction of $398,156.04.
• On Tuesday, September 9th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $757.50, for a total transaction of $393,142.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $589.22. The stock had a trading volume of 20,484,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,436,927. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $704.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $705.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,247,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,823,375,000 after buying an additional 278,180 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $1,086.00 to $1,117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $825.00 price objective (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $825.05.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.