Mark Zuckerberg Sells 16,702 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total value of $8,600,861.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,690,084.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, June 24th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 9,760 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $502.87, for a total transaction of $4,908,011.20.
• On Wednesday, June 26th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.88, for a total transaction of $8,532,717.76.
• On Friday, June 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70.
• On Friday, June 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68.
• On Tuesday, June 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.18, for a total value of $8,404,112.36.
• On Thursday, June 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $509.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $480.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,314,722 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,496,450,000 after purchasing an additional 592,085 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 69.9% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 26,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after buying an additional 11,033 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 503.5% during the third quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 22,920 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,881,000 after buying an additional 19,122 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,211,935 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $664,045,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,577 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.27.

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.