Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.5% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report)’s share price fell 1.5% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $686.27 and last traded at $685.39. 6,023,632 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 14,470,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $695.77.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.99, for a total value of $364,332.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,121,841.36. The trade was a 1.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.27, for a total transaction of $361,522.59. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,214,412.49. This trade represents a 5.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $699.27, for a total transaction of $325,160.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,807 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,740.89. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.00.

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Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $618.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $623.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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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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