Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 3.1% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price fell 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $647.63 and last traded at $647.40. 6,989,201 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 15,488,654 shares. The stock had previously closed at $668.13.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total value of $2,469,975.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $648.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $594.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in 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.