Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.6% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) dropped 0.6% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $591.71 and last traded at $594.27. Approximately 3,878,059 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 14,406,961 shares. The stock had previously closed at $598.01.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total value of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,201,693.12. This represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.00, for a total value of $359,936.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,888,480. This represents a 16.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $568.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 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 valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently 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.