Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.3% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $578.74 and last traded at $580.51. 4,374,584 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 13,607,935 shares. The stock had previously closed at $582.36.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,523,445. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $656.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $604.69. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $282,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,688,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.