Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CTO Andrew Bosworth Sells 5,057 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $535.16 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $276.03 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.74, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $501.93 and a 200 day moving average of $490.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the second quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,277,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,077 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.2% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,961 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,165,000 after buying an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $574.41.

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.