Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.2% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price dropped 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $442.65 and last traded at $455.67. Approximately 7,560,886 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 16,135,683 shares. The stock had previously closed at $461.27.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total value of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 311,348 shares of company stock valued at $154,678,120. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price target (down previously from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $525.66.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.7 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $493.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $474.54.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 0.43%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.