Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 1.9% After Insider Selling

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) dropped 1.9% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $528.78 and last traded at $529.47. Approximately 6,026,109 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 16,198,923 shares. The stock had previously closed at $539.91.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.00, for a total transaction of $210,944.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,479,040. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.00, for a total transaction of $210,944.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,479,040. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $4,223,529.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares in the company, valued at $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,459 shares of company stock worth $128,049,749. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $475.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.64.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $488.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $265,000. Carmignac Gestion increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the third quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,005,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $301,874,000 after buying an additional 12,235 shares during the period. Alamar Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $201,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 600.8% during the third quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 8,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,638,000 after buying an additional 7,534 shares during the period. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,775 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.