Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 3.1% on Insider Selling

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $647.63 and last traded at $647.40. 6,989,201 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 15,488,654 shares. The stock had previously closed at $668.13.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $648.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $594.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other 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.