Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.3% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $499.67 and last traded at $499.82. 2,649,371 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 16,520,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $506.63.

Specifically, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.05, for a total transaction of $252,164.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,794,965.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 391,071 shares of company stock worth $192,834,857. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $480.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $444.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.