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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total value of $8,906,174.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,377,575.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, August 19th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total transaction of $8,800,951.88.
• On Friday, August 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.09, for a total transaction of $8,836,861.18.
• On Monday, August 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.89, for a total value of $8,599,692.78.
• On Wednesday, August 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.51, for a total value of $8,827,174.02.
• On Friday, August 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total value of $8,569,629.18.
• On Wednesday, August 7th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36.
• On Friday, August 2nd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 150 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.49, for a total transaction of $75,073.50.
• On Tuesday, July 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,712 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.27, for a total transaction of $859,886.24.
• On Friday, July 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 14,874 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.38, for a total transaction of $7,487,274.12.
• On Monday, July 8th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.75, for a total value of $8,864,586.50.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $531.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $502.48 and a 200 day moving average of $490.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $276.03 and a 52 week high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after buying an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the 4th quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares in the last quarter. Voyager Global Management LP raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 400.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

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.