Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells $453,012.27 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, April 15th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62.
• On Tuesday, April 8th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19.
• On Tuesday, April 1st, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86.
• On Tuesday, March 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05.
• On Tuesday, March 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25.
• On Tuesday, March 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00.
• On Tuesday, March 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00.
• On Tuesday, February 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total value of $613,155.75.
• On Tuesday, February 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total value of $677,920.47.
• On Tuesday, February 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $547.27 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $587.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $679.02.

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.