Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Nicholas Clegg Sells 7,296 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

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 Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $6.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $561.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,155,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,035,363. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $569.10 and a 200-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 company has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in 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. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

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.