Jennifer Newstead Sells 905 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total value of $459,405.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00.
• On Tuesday, August 27th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total transaction of $469,740.25.
• On Tuesday, August 20th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90.
• On Friday, August 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.21, for a total value of $481,650.05.
• On Monday, August 5th, Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total value of $406,486.15.
• On Tuesday, July 23rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.80, for a total value of $443,269.00.
• On Tuesday, July 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10.
• On Tuesday, July 9th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75.
• On Tuesday, July 2nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total transaction of $453,015.85.
• On Tuesday, June 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total value of $449,775.95.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $524.62 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $505.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $495.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.40 and a 12-month high of $544.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. American Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 3,267 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 46.4% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,023,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $213,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,117,000. Finally, Creekside Partners acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

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.