Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Jennifer Newstead Sells 519 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total value of $375,278.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,225,251.04. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, July 8th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.57, for a total value of $374,494.83.
• On Tuesday, July 1st, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total value of $382,503.00.
• On Tuesday, June 24th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $704.89, for a total value of $365,837.91.
• On Tuesday, June 17th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.99, for a total value of $364,332.81.
• 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 value of $363,819.00.
• On Tuesday, June 3rd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were 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 shares were 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 shares were 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 stock was sold at an average price of $645.77, for a total transaction of $585,713.39.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $1.50 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $701.41. The company had a trading volume of 11,776,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,419,821. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $747.90. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $681.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $636.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $736.05.

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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