Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $8,864,586.50 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.75, for a total transaction of $8,864,586.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 169,372 shares in the company, valued at $89,894,189. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

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

• On Wednesday, July 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.87, for a total transaction of $8,916,696.74.
• On Friday, July 5th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,727 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.87, for a total transaction of $4,615,448.49.
• On Monday, July 1st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.08, for a total transaction of $8,402,442.16.
• On Wednesday, July 3rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $509.10, for a total transaction of $8,502,988.20.
• On Friday, June 28th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $514.96, for a total transaction of $8,600,861.92.
• 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 shares were 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 stock was 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 transaction of $8,404,112.36.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $534.69 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $490.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.64.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.