Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.6% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares were down 2.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $608.23 and last traded at $613.61. Approximately 4,546,834 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 10,568,646 shares. The stock had previously closed at $630.20.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $590.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $550.47.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.