Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 2.2% After Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price traded down 2.2% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $520.11 and last traded at $522.67. 3,702,225 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 16,083,057 shares. The stock had previously closed at $534.69.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares in the company, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 294,278 shares of company stock worth $146,060,559. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $593.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $492.56 and its 200 day moving average is $466.00. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 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.