Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 1.3% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $646.90 and last traded at $650.89. 3,611,611 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 14,477,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $659.36.

Specifically, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total transaction of $383,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,629,887.50. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The business's 50 day moving average is $569.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $605.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in 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 last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th 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. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $2,990,544,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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