Mark Zuckerberg Sells 12,975 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total value of $8,023,999.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 420,215 shares in the company, valued at $259,869,360.30. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mark Zuckerberg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 8th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10.
• On Friday, January 3rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58.
• On Friday, December 27th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31.
• On Tuesday, December 24th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66.
• On Friday, December 20th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00.
• On Monday, December 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.85, for a total value of $22,445,236.85.
• On Wednesday, December 18th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05.
• On Friday, December 13th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04.
• On Monday, December 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.36, for a total transaction of $7,971,321.00.
• On Wednesday, December 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $610.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $592.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $552.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $355.36 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 221,329 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,599,000 after purchasing an additional 7,007 shares in the last quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 543 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,015,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 2,242 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

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.