Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Sells $7,971,321.00 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.36, for a total value of $7,971,321.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 594,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $365,009,092.44. The trade was a 2.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

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

• On Wednesday, December 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25.
• On Friday, December 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total value of $14,268,740.64.
• On Tuesday, December 3rd, Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37.
• On Wednesday, October 30th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40.
• On Monday, October 14th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00.
• On Monday, October 7th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 492 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.75, for a total transaction of $295,569.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of META opened at $620.35 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $583.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $537.42. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $328.64 and a twelve month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $595,152,000. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $635.20.

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.