Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 2.4% on Insider Selling

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 2.4% on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $664.34 and last traded at $666.99. 5,697,974 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 15,439,862 shares. The stock had previously closed at $683.55.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment 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 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 $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $648.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $594.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.