Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.3% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) dropped 1.3% on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $638.61 and last traded at $644.23. Approximately 13,497,611 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 15,514,462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $652.71.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total value of $344,699.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,067,594.40. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $669.63, for a total value of $346,198.71. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 13,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,082.13. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $870.00 target price (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s fifty day moving average is $665.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $707.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $44,119,937,000 after purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth about $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after buying an additional 1,650,435 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,191,175,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.