Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.4% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.4% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $575.57 and last traded at $577.93. 3,104,264 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 15,233,068 shares. The stock had previously closed at $586.27.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total transaction of $241,534.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,744,844.39. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $563.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $613.71.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $544.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $507.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 59.0% during the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.