Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells 15,847 Shares

Key Points

• Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms on August 6th for a total of $12,181,113.49 at an average price of $768.67 per share.
• Meta Platforms reported strong earnings results with $7.14 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and generating $47.52 billion in revenue.
• The company's recent quarterly dividend was set at $0.525 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3% with a low dividend payout ratio of 7.60%.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total transaction of $12,181,113.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, August 4th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $769.38, for a total value of $12,192,364.86.
• On Friday, August 1st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total transaction of $11,939,605.21.
• On Wednesday, July 2nd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28.
• On Tuesday, July 1st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.89, for a total transaction of $9,984,614.77.
• On Friday, June 27th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $730.47, for a total transaction of $10,075,372.71.
• On Wednesday, June 25th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $710.24, for a total transaction of $9,796,340.32.
• On Friday, June 20th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $700.38, for a total transaction of $350,190.00.
• On Monday, June 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $702.06, for a total value of $9,683,513.58.
• On Tuesday, June 17th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56.
• On Wednesday, June 18th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total value of $1,928,283.79.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $7.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $769.30. 7,308,601 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,494,221. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $711.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $649.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 7.60%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after buying an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on META. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $795.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

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.