Jennifer Newstead Sells 921 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,212,039.50. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Jennifer Newstead also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $677,920.47.
• On Tuesday, February 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64.
• On Tuesday, February 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20.
• On Tuesday, January 28th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00.
• On Tuesday, January 21st, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00.
• On Tuesday, January 14th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70.
• On Tuesday, January 7th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75.
• On Tuesday, December 31st, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80.
• On Tuesday, December 24th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35.
• On Tuesday, December 17th, Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total transaction of $567,127.30.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3 %

META stock traded down $15.46 during trading on Thursday, reaching $658.24. 12,449,715 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,645,709. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $650.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $594.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 446 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $3,298,000. Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,369 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,973,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $964,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.