Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $21,951,323.10 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, January 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total value of $8,023,999.50.
• On Friday, January 3rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total value of $21,695,565.58.
• On Friday, December 27th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31.
• On Tuesday, December 24th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total value of $21,712,807.66.
• On Friday, December 20th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00.
• On Monday, December 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $624.85, for a total value of $22,445,236.85.
• On Wednesday, December 18th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05.
• On Friday, December 13th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total value of $22,351,483.04.
• On Monday, December 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.36, for a total value of $7,971,321.00.
• On Wednesday, December 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

META stock opened at $615.86 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $593.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $552.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $358.61 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 221,329 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,599,000 after purchasing an additional 7,007 shares during the last quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 543 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,015,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 2,242 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.90.

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.