Mark Zuckerberg Sells 1,712 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total value of $859,886.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,888 shares in the company, valued at $65,238,845.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

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

• On Friday, July 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 14,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.38, for a total transaction of $7,487,274.12.
• 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 transaction 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 transaction of $8,916,696.74.
• On Friday, July 5th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was 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 stock was 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 shares were sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total transaction 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 transaction of $8,532,717.76.
• On Friday, June 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $476.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $493.41 and a 200-day moving average of $470.32. The company has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $542.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,018 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,691,000 after acquiring an additional 2,628 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 574,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $289,873,000 after purchasing an additional 21,933 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 31.7% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,585 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the second quarter. Altus Wealth Management LLC now owns 742 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,514,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.