Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells 4,900 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 4,900 shares of the company’s 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 $2,581,124.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,498,320.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Javier Olivan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, August 1st, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.48, for a total transaction of $214,849.76.
• On Thursday, July 25th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $190,756.00.
• On Thursday, July 18th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $195,642.32.
• On Thursday, July 11th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.81, for a total transaction of $218,693.72.
• On Friday, July 5th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.00, for a total transaction of $210,944.00.
• On Thursday, June 27th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.41, for a total transaction of $211,936.92.
• On Thursday, June 20th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $502.00, for a total transaction of $206,824.00.
• On Thursday, June 13th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.75, for a total transaction of $208,369.00.
• On Thursday, June 6th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $492.98, for a total transaction of $203,107.76.
• On Thursday, May 30th, Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.67, for a total transaction of $194,328.04.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.86 on Monday, reaching $529.28. The stock had a trading volume of 9,869,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,325,153. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $501.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $489.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $276.03 and a 1 year high of $542.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently 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.