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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was down 0.6% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $555.55 and last traded at $568.76. Approximately 7,551,864 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 15,086,555 shares. The stock had previously closed at $572.43.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,890,460.68. 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,262,708.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $557.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $514.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 17,517 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,027,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 828.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC now owns 4,068 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 353 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 323.4% in the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 24,982 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,301,000 after purchasing an additional 19,082 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the third quarter. Sage Advisors LLC now owns 2,103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,204,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 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.