Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.9% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares dropped 0.9% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $511.51 and last traded at $512.43. Approximately 2,963,366 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 15,807,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $516.86.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $470,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,135,440. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’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 owns 14,011 shares in the company, valued at $7,304,634.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,449,230. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $576.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $505.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $494.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 valued at $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised 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 worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,733,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,620 shares in 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.