Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price was down 0% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $589.26 and last traded at $591.22. Approximately 1,267,449 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 14,663,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $591.24.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $638.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $588.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $547.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.