Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells 921 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, March 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05.
• On Tuesday, March 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25.
• On Tuesday, March 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00.
• On Tuesday, March 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00.
• On Tuesday, February 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total value of $613,155.75.
• On Tuesday, February 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47.
• On Tuesday, February 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64.
• On Tuesday, February 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20.
• On Tuesday, January 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00.
• On Tuesday, January 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $52.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $531.62. 34,640,728 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,380,193. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $651.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $609.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,162,918,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

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.