By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report)’s share price fell 2% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $585.58 and last traded at $587.85. 2,322,284 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 14,696,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $599.81.
Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have commented on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $638.00.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $588.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $547.56.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 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.
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