Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares traded down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $494.54 and last traded at $495.74. 7,528,534 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 17,004,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $496.10.

Specifically, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 over the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $402.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.