Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg Sells 7,802 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total transaction of $5,476,691.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $77,550,434.92. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Mark Zuckerberg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,466 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.25, for a total transaction of $5,235,532.50.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09.
• On Friday, June 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2%

META opened at $694.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $597.08 and its 200-day moving average is $617.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

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.