Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells 7,296 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Nicholas Clegg also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 15th, Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ META traded up $6.69 on Tuesday, reaching $561.09. The stock had a trading volume of 9,155,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,035,363. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $569.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $521.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $313.66 and a 12-month high of $602.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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