Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) paid out its latest – and first of 2026 – dividend on March 26, sending $0.5250 per share owned to its investors for a total annual yield of 0.38%.
The ex-dividend date for the payment made on Thursday was March 16, while traders who purchase META stock by June 15 can expect to receive the next one, scheduled for June 25.
Considering no changes in the yield have been recently recorded, and none are expected, the June dividend is also set to amount to $0.52, and the total amount to be paid in 2026 stands just above $2.08.
How Meta stock yield compares to other dividend equities
Put in perspective, if an investor decides to buy $1,000 worth of Meta shares in March, they can expect to receive 95 cents in three months’ time as the blue-chip technology equity is, at press time, changing hands at $547.75.
While the yield per share appears minuscule compared to many prominent dividend stocks – Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), for example, offers 2.84% annually and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) as much as 5.17% – Meta is relatively generous with its regular payments compared to much of the technology sector.
For example, the social media powerhouse is comparable to Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which offers approximately 0.30%, and pays a substantially higher dividend than the semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), whose yield amounts to just 0.023%.
Considering the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, owns approximately 342 million shares, the billionaire received about $180 million on March 26.
Meta stock plummets on same day as it pays dividends
Elsewhere, while Meta investors received a boon in terms of dividends on March 26, they also saw their position in the company take a significant hit.
Specifically, the social media stock crashed 7.92% on Thursday, as it ended trading on March 25 at $594.89 and faced the closing bell on March 26 at $547.75.
The significant sell-off is most likely directly connected to a landmark decision reached by a Los Angeles jury that found Meta Platforms – and Google via YouTube – liable for causing harm to a young user.
Allegedly, the company engaged in harmful practices designed to make the systems addictive, and, despite the damages ordered to be paid being relatively trivial at $6 million, the verdict can have profound effects on the industry later down the line.
Featured image via Shutterstock
