Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells 420 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Mark Zuckerberg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00.
• On Monday, October 7th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00.
• On Friday, August 30th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total transaction of $2,548,605.53.
• On Monday, August 26th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total transaction of $8,693,056.96.
• On Wednesday, August 28th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00.
• On Friday, August 23rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total transaction of $8,876,444.92.
• On Monday, August 19th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88.
• On Wednesday, August 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48.
• On Friday, August 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.09, for a total transaction of $8,836,861.18.
• On Monday, August 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.89, for a total transaction of $8,599,692.78.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $567.16. 15,278,044 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,161,203. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $555.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $512.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $308.33 and a twelve month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 36.26%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

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.