Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $1,928,283.79 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,753 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $700.43, for a total transaction of $1,928,283.79. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,619 shares in the company, valued at $59,970,116.17. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• 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 shares were sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56.
• On Monday, June 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,466 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.25, for a total transaction of $5,235,532.50.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09.
• On Wednesday, June 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92.
• On Friday, June 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $1,025,052.06.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $695.77. 9,635,650 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,501,970. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $612.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $621.89. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $459,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.00.

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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