Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.9% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price fell 2.9% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $584.91 and last traded at $585.25. 4,310,604 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 13,805,217 shares. The stock had previously closed at $602.58.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Mizuho upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, 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 quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $655.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $608.48.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. 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.