Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells 519 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.99, for a total transaction of $364,332.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,664 shares in the company, valued at $20,121,841.36. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, June 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.00, for a total transaction of $363,819.00.
• On Tuesday, June 3rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $671.00, for a total transaction of $348,249.00.
• On Tuesday, May 27th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total transaction of $329,777.79.
• On Tuesday, May 20th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $635.50, for a total transaction of $329,824.50.
• On Friday, May 16th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.72, for a total transaction of $330,457.68.
• On Tuesday, May 13th, Jennifer Newstead sold 907 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $645.77, for a total transaction of $585,713.39.
• On Tuesday, May 6th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total transaction of $545,710.92.
• On Tuesday, April 29th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57.
• On Tuesday, April 22nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27.
• On Tuesday, April 15th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.9%

META traded down $13.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $682.35. 22,498,010 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,546,627. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock's 50-day moving average is $615.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $622.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $710.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $2,990,544,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.