Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $1,928,283.79 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total value of $1,928,283.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,970,116.17. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mark Zuckerberg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.06, for a total value of $9,683,513.58.
• On Tuesday, June 17th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56.
• On Monday, June 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,466 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.25, for a total value of $5,235,532.50.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09.
• On Wednesday, June 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92.
• On Friday, June 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $682.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $618.10 and its 200 day moving average is $623.08.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $1,836,000. Opulen Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $325,000. Daner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $334,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $112,406,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $664.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.00.

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.