Christopher K. Cox Sells 20,000 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $13.15 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $655.05. 10,816,779 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,619,734. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $654.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $597.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.