Rep. Robert Bresnahan, Jr. Sells Off Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Representative Robert Bresnahan, Jr. (R-Pennsylvania) recently sold shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. NASDAQ: META. In a filing disclosed on April 22nd, the Representative disclosed that they had sold between $1,001 and $15,000 in Meta Platforms stock on April 2nd. The trade occurred in the Representative's "JP MORGAN BROKERAGE ACCOUNT #2" account.

Representative Robert Bresnahan, Jr. also recently made the following trade(s):

• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Reddit NYSE: RDDT on 4/4/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Okta NASDAQ: OKTA on 4/4/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Cloudflare NYSE: NET on 4/4/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of SanDisk NASDAQ: SNDK on 4/4/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Robinhood Markets NASDAQ: HOOD on 4/3/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT on 4/3/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Broadcom NASDAQ: AVGO on 4/3/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com NASDAQ: AMZN on 4/3/2025.
• Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Shopify NYSE: SHOP on 4/3/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Intuit NASDAQ: INTU on 4/1/2025.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $14.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $547.27. 17,064,639 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,374,342. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $587.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in 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 buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $679.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total value of $14,508,376.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580 shares of the company's stock, valued at $376,234.40. This represents a 97.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,954,832.58. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

About Representative Bresnahan

Rob Bresnahan Jr. (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District. He assumed office on January 3, 2025. His current term ends on January 3, 2027. Bresnahan (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election. Rob Bresnahan Jr. was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in business administration, management and operations from the University of Scranton in 2012. His career experience includes working as the chief financial officer and CEO of a family business, an electrical contracting company.

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.