Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock Price Down 0.2% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) was down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $467.04 and last traded at $470.86. Approximately 3,483,238 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 17,637,225 shares. The stock had previously closed at $471.91.

Specifically, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.08, for a total transaction of $45,253,105.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $4,223,529.35. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 74,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,190,573. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,015,222 shares of company stock valued at $499,279,869 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $509.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.21. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $486.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $421.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cypress Capital Group lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 1,359 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,627 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,290,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 28.1% in the third quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 10,867 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,262,000 after buying an additional 2,387 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,979 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 18.5% in the third quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 21,409 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,427,000 after buying an additional 3,341 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.