Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 12.7% on Insider Selling

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

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $495.08 and its 200-day moving average is $403.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Shaker Investments LLC OH bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,903,000. Q3 Asset Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Q3 Asset Management now owns 7,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,453,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 15,220 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,390,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. One Day In July LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 60.6% during the first quarter. One Day In July LLC now owns 928 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, W Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the first quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.