Mark Zuckerberg Sells 13,793 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total value of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

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

• On Monday, June 9th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,466 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.25, for a total value of $5,235,532.50.
• On Wednesday, June 11th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92.
• On Friday, June 6th, Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,462 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $1,025,052.06.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $693.36 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $600.62 and a 200-day moving average of $618.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $704.26.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth about $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.