Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells 620 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $345,340.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,135,544. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• On Friday, November 15th, Javier Olivan sold 4,891 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $2,822,889.56.
• On Friday, November 1st, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54.
• On Friday, October 25th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08.
• On Friday, October 18th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45.
• On Friday, October 11th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total value of $241,534.79.
• On Friday, October 4th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.73, for a total transaction of $241,080.49.
• On Friday, September 27th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $235,410.00.
• On Friday, September 20th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $231,280.00.
• On Friday, September 13th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $520.57, for a total value of $214,995.41.
• On Friday, September 6th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $215,586.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $6.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $561.09. 9,155,606 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,035,363. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $569.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $521.96. The stock 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $313.66 and a 1 year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,195 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $32,629,000 after purchasing an additional 12,301 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 541.8% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX now owns 3,819 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224 shares during the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.3% during the first quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 7,131 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,463,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.