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

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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’s 50-day moving average is $656.39 and its 200-day moving average is $599.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased 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 worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 9,968 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the third quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,051 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,319,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 440,021 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $248,036,000 after purchasing an additional 43,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,057,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.