Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg Sells 7,975 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at $274,643,622.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, August 26th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total value of $8,693,056.96.
• On Friday, August 23rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total transaction of $8,876,444.92.
• On Monday, August 19th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88.
• On Wednesday, August 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48.
• On Friday, August 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.09, for a total value of $8,836,861.18.
• On Monday, August 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.89, for a total transaction of $8,599,692.78.
• On Wednesday, August 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total value of $8,827,174.02.
• On Friday, August 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total value of $8,569,629.18.
• On Wednesday, August 7th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total transaction of $3,299,931.36.
• On Friday, August 2nd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $516.78. The company had a trading volume of 9,075,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,078,506. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $503.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $492.02.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,487,000. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $462,000. Souders Financial Advisors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the second quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 6,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,136,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $1,963,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $5,083,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

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.