Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.8% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock price was down 1.8% on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $512.01 and last traded at $513.96. Approximately 2,978,433 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 17,171,537 shares. The stock had previously closed at $523.16.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares in the company, valued at $4,167,719.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,460,035 shares of company stock worth $691,937,607 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $502.75.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $491.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $391.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.03 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Madison Wealth Partners Inc lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 8,549 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 4,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.