Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was down 0.1% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $504.07 and last traded at $511.30. Approximately 2,761,850 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 15,892,845 shares. The stock had previously closed at $511.76.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.35, for a total transaction of $215,317.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 14,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,304,634.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,000 shares in the company, valued at $269,449,230. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.05, for a total transaction of $469,740.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,568,394.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $505.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $493.77. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.