Jennifer Newstead Sells 519 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total value of $333,312.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,737,989.48. The trade was a 1.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $624.14, for a total value of $323,928.66.
• On Tuesday, November 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $307,040.40.
• On Monday, November 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 516 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.00, for a total transaction of $325,596.00.
• On Tuesday, November 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.00, for a total transaction of $325,932.00.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00.
• On Tuesday, October 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.37, for a total transaction of $382,176.03.
• On Tuesday, October 14th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.85, for a total value of $367,374.15.
• On Tuesday, October 7th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.98, for a total value of $372,112.62.
• On Tuesday, September 30th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $741.50, for a total value of $384,838.50.
• On Tuesday, September 23rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.20, for a total value of $399,214.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $673.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $673.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $706.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Arete raised Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $718.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.43.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after acquiring an additional 8,405,558 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.