Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 12.7% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) dropped 12.7% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $414.50 and last traded at $430.75. 39,868,671 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 127% from the average daily volume of 17,587,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $493.50.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $404.27. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 54.6% during the 1st quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 127,085 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $61,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 43,318 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,034,000 after buying an additional 5,157 shares during the period. 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.