Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 1.1% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $488.88 and last traded at $490.47. 3,257,297 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 17,835,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $495.89.

Specifically, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total value of $251,526.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,148,086.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367 in the last three months. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $467.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $376.07. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.