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

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.88.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $589.88 and its 200 day moving average is $549.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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 anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. 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.