Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $252,071.40 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Mark Zuckerberg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00.
• On Monday, October 7th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total value of $295,569.00.
• On Friday, August 30th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 4,909 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.17, for a total value of $2,548,605.53.
• On Monday, August 26th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.48, for a total value of $8,693,056.96.
• On Wednesday, August 28th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total value of $4,117,971.00.
• On Friday, August 23rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.46, for a total value of $8,876,444.92.
• On Monday, August 19th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.94, for a total value of $8,800,951.88.
• On Wednesday, August 21st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total value of $8,906,174.48.
• On Friday, August 16th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.09, for a total value of $8,836,861.18.
• On Monday, August 12th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.89, for a total value of $8,599,692.78.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $567.16 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $308.33 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $513.25. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.84 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

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.