Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.6% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) fell 0.6% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $495.19 and last traded at $496.84. 2,738,503 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 16,944,990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $499.76.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $397.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.