Although it might not appear as one of the most exciting businesses in the wider market or even in big tech, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been on a consistent growth trajectory over the course of the year.
Meta stock has risen on a combination of factors, several of which stand apart by importance — the first is the company’s long-term cost-cutting plan dating back to 2023, while the second is continued financial outperformance.
In tandem with this, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company has made significant inroads in terms of artificial intelligence — and although spending is set to remain high in 2025, the potential payoff just might be worth it.
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On October 30, the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call marked the fifth consecutive quarter of outperforming consensus analyst estimates. At press time, Meta stock was trading at $599.85 — marking a 73.22% year-to-date (YTD) return.
But while it’s easy to take a look at surface-level affairs and conclude that everything is fine, behind the scenes, key insiders have steadily been accelerating their Meta stock sales.
In the second week of December, co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold $67 million worth of Meta shares — now, on December 19 and 20, he followed up with another selling spree, worth roughly $25,876,272.
Zuckerberg executed another large Meta stock selloff
Per data retrieved by Finbold’s insider trading radar from two SEC Form 4 filings recently made public, the Meta CEO sold a total of 42,893 shares in the aforementioned two-day period, at prices ranging from $600.38 to $610.36.
With the sale concluded Zuckerberg still holds 488,360 shares. While his decision to lock in profits to the extent that he has, does raise some questions regarding the tech titan’s valuation, the sale was prescheduled and executed in accordance with a 10b5-1 plan adopted back on August 9.
According to this plan, the social media pioneer will sell as many as 518,004 Class A Meta shares and 1,704,522 Class B common shares by May 23, 2025. However, once all is said and done, while the magnitude of the sale instantly grabs the attention of retail investors, there is no underlying shift that would support a strong bearish case for Meta.
On the contrary, after the company’s last earnings call, analysts generally turned bullish. Singapore-based KGI Securities recently set a $725 price target, equating to a 20.86% upside. While slightly less bullish, Piper Sandler largely concurs — having set a price forecast of $670, which would correlate to an 11.69% surge from current Meta stock prices.
There is a strong possibility that increased AI spending could prove to be a headwind in the first half of 2025 — but seeing as long-term prospects remain solid, this should be viewed as more of a buying opportunity than a legitimate correction.
Featured image via Shutterstock
