Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells 517 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total value of $370,952.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,263,653.36. The trade was a 6.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, June 30th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total value of $383,081.49.
• On Monday, June 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.47, for a total value of $353,353.99.
• On Monday, June 16th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.27, for a total value of $361,522.59.
• On Monday, June 9th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $698.00, for a total value of $360,866.00.
• On Monday, June 2nd, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.93, for a total value of $333,428.81.
• On Tuesday, May 27th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $635.41, for a total value of $328,506.97.
• On Monday, May 19th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $324,805.25.
• On Thursday, May 15th, Javier Olivan sold 2,615 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $1,724,226.40.
• On Monday, May 12th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.25, for a total value of $383,800.00.
• On Monday, May 5th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.00, for a total value of $359,936.00.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $12.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $732.78. 11,400,476 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,483,596. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $665.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $631.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $665.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $727.95.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.