Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.4% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s share price traded down 0.4% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $575.84 and last traded at $579.90. 3,480,351 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 15,080,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $582.01.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,456,828. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,641,281.24. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $547.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $509.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,962,767,000 after acquiring an additional 748,076 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 59.0% during the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Lincoln National Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. 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.