Jennifer Newstead Sells 585 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Tuesday, April 9th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00.
• 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 value 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 value 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 value 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 value 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 value 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 value of $280,800.00.
• On Tuesday, February 20th, Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.88, for a total value of $274,879.80.
• On Tuesday, February 6th, Jennifer Newstead sold 552 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.00, for a total value of $256,128.00.
• On Tuesday, January 30th, Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $481.07 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $398.64.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd 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. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

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.