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

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares in the company, valued at $15,096,741.18. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• On Tuesday, April 8th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19.
• On Tuesday, April 1st, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86.
• On Tuesday, March 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05.
• On Tuesday, March 18th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25.
• On Tuesday, March 11th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00.
• On Tuesday, March 4th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00.
• On Tuesday, February 25th, Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total value of $613,155.75.
• 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 shares were sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,816,409. The business has a 50 day moving average of $616.82 and a 200 day moving average of $607.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $684.10.

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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