Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price fell 0.2% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $506.02 and last traded at $508.30. 2,849,584 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 16,219,292 shares. The stock had previously closed at $509.50.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total transaction of $8,402,442.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 204,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,769,182.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total value of $453,015.85. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,944,071.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total transaction of $8,402,442.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 204,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,769,182.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,905 shares of company stock worth $123,528,726 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $482.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in 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 valued at $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.