Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) recently bought shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. NASDAQ: META. In a filing disclosed on April 10th, the Representative disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Meta Platforms stock on March 5th. The trade occurred in the Representative's "MORGAN STANLEY - SELECT UMA ACCOUNT # 1" account.
Representative Josh Gottheimer also recently made the following trade(s):
- Purchased $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Visa NYSE: V on 3/24/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Spotify Technology NYSE: SPOT on 3/24/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Flywire NASDAQ: FLYW on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Disco OTCMKTS: DSCSY on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Snowflake NYSE: SNOW on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Diageo NYSE: DEO on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Shopify NYSE: SHOP on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk NYSE: TLK on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of ServiceNow NYSE: NOW on 3/19/2025.
- Sold $1,001 - $15,000 in shares of Tandem Diabetes Care NASDAQ: TNDM on 3/19/2025.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %
Meta Platforms stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $501.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,047. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $612.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $607.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $684.10.
Read Our Latest Analysis on META
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total transaction of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 415,822 shares of company stock valued at $282,856,622. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
About Representative Gottheimer
Josh Gottheimer (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing New Jersey's 5th Congressional District. He assumed office on January 3, 2017. His current term ends on January 3, 2027.
Gottheimer (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 5th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.
Gottheimer is also running for election for Governor of New Jersey. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on June 10, 2025.
Gottheimer attended the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate degree. He became a Thouron Fellow at Oxford and attended Harvard Law School. Gottheimer worked as a speech writer under former President Bill Clinton (D), assisting with two State of the Union addresses, among other projects. Before running for Congress, he worked for Microsoft as a general manager for corporate strategy.
About Meta Platforms
(
Get Free Report)
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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