Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) fell 1% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $502.25 and last traded at $503.67. 2,661,217 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 16,683,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $508.84.
Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $492.37, for a total value of $15,506,208.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 31,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $492.37, for a total transaction of $15,506,208.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 437,528 shares of company stock worth $215,768,262 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.41.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %
The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $480.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $440.36. 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 – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position 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 valued at $1,265,862,000 after purchasing an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
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.
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