Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Trading Down 2% on Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) traded down 2% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $626.15 and last traded at $630.78. 7,983,310 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 14,500,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $643.88.

Specifically, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.77, for a total value of $585,713.39. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,982,161.73. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total value of $383,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,629,887.50. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $571.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $606.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.