Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.6% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares traded down 1.6% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $493.17 and last traded at $496.08. 4,256,664 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 16,347,370 shares. The stock had previously closed at $504.22.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,086 shares of company stock valued at $106,423,370 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on META shares. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average is $480.72 and its 200-day moving average is $458.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued 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 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. 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.