Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells $305,370.00 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, April 2nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $485.00, for a total transaction of $283,725.00.
• On Tuesday, March 26th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $295,594.65.
• On Tuesday, March 19th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.50, for a total transaction of $285,772.50.
• On Tuesday, March 12th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.75, for a total transaction of $288,843.75.
• On Tuesday, March 5th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $495.00, for a total transaction of $289,575.00.
• On Tuesday, February 27th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.00, for a total transaction of $280,800.00.
• On Tuesday, February 20th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.88, for a total transaction of $274,879.80.
• On Tuesday, February 6th, Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total transaction of $256,128.00.
• On Tuesday, January 30th, Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00.
• On Tuesday, January 23rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $511.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $491.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $392.56. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after buying an additional 249,926 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 284.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 26.9% in the first quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.75.

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.