Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.3% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $611.11 and last traded at $613.62. Approximately 5,379,466 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 13,622,523 shares. The stock had previously closed at $627.93.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,860,580. This trade represents a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This represents a 6.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on META shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $656.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $599.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.5% during the third quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,215 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 21,707 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,426,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,471,822,000 after acquiring an additional 550,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 417,016 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $238,716,000 after acquiring an additional 18,131 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.