Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells 14,874 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 14,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.38, for a total value of $7,487,274.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 135,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,178,793.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

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

• On Tuesday, July 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24.
• On Monday, July 8th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.75, for a total value of $8,864,586.50.
• On Wednesday, July 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total value of $8,916,696.74.
• On Friday, July 5th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total value of $4,615,448.49.
• On Monday, July 1st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total value of $8,402,442.16.
• On Wednesday, July 3rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total value of $8,502,988.20.
• On Friday, June 28th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92.
• On Monday, June 24th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total value of $4,908,011.20.
• On Wednesday, June 26th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total value of $8,532,717.76.
• On Friday, June 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $461.99 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $493.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $469.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $542.81. The company has a market cap of $1.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $593.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $518.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.