Mark Zuckerberg Sells 12,975 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.23, for a total transaction of $9,033,584.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 197,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $137,850,755.08. This represents a 6.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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

• On Wednesday, February 5th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00.
• On Friday, January 31st, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25.
• On Monday, January 27th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total value of $14,508,376.88.
• On Wednesday, January 29th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97.
• On Friday, January 24th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96.
• On Wednesday, January 22nd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80.
• On Friday, January 17th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total transaction of $22,050,105.85.
• On Monday, January 13th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.69, for a total value of $21,721,069.49.
• On Wednesday, January 15th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36.
• On Friday, January 10th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total value of $7,984,944.75.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

META stock opened at $711.99 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $624.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $572.13. The company has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $718.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 25,627 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $14,736,000 after buying an additional 4,568 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 65,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,090,000 after acquiring an additional 5,169 shares during the period. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 605 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Black Swift Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,868,000. Finally, GPM Growth Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc. now owns 7,275 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,073 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.