Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells $373,607.34 in Stock

Key Points

• Meta Platforms, Inc. insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of stock at an average price of $719.86, totaling $373,607.34, resulting in a 1.99% decrease in her ownership.
• The company reported $7.14 earnings per share, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $47.52 billion, up 21.6% year-over-year.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Meta, with Bank of America projecting a new target of $900.00 and the current consensus rating being a "Moderate Buy".

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total transaction of $373,607.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,550 shares in the company, valued at $18,392,423. The trade was a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, July 22nd, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.10, for a total transaction of $371,655.90.
• On Tuesday, July 15th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.08, for a total transaction of $375,278.52.
• 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 transaction 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 transaction 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 transaction 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 transaction of $364,332.81.
• On Tuesday, June 10th, Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were 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 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.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ:META traded down $23.43 on Friday, hitting $750.01. 18,985,910 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,659,175. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company's 50-day moving average price is $699.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $644.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 40.31% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after acquiring an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $815.09.

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.