Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 3.7% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares dropped 3.7% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $494.20 and last traded at $511.83. Approximately 13,579,421 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 14,384,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $531.62.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $648.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $609.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.