Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.7% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $496.01 and last traded at $500.58. 2,180,564 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 16,565,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $504.16.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total value of $8,406,784.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 275,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $138,567,991.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total value of $8,406,784.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,567,991.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 391,071 shares of company stock valued at $192,834,857 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $545.00 price objective (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $480.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $444.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is 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.