Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.5% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares traded down 0.5% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $554.19 and last traded at $561.43. 4,979,617 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 15,605,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $564.41.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $231,280.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,772 shares in the company, valued at $7,152,320. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total value of $11,150,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 338,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.72, for a total transaction of $486,636.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,848,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $522.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $498.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the second quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.