Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.3% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) fell 0.3% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $597.01 and last traded at $597.57. 3,521,992 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 7,929,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $599.24.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at $19,477,780.40. This represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $642.88.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $589.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $548.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,870,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 846 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 101.2% in the 2nd quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.