Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.6% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price dropped 0.6% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $609.71 and last traded at $613.16. Approximately 2,545,759 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 12,241,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $617.12.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.69, for a total transaction of $21,721,069.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total transaction of $250,596.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,688 shares in the company, valued at $10,125,777.76. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $595.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $554.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. 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.