Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Christopher K. Cox Sells 20,000 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $656.47 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $655.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $599.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $248,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,026 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,174,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the third quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 987 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.