Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $393,054.42 in Stock

Key Points

• Meta Platforms COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares at an average price of $760.26, totaling approximately $393,054.42, resulting in an 8.94% decrease in his ownership.
• Meta's stock recently traded up 1.1% to $771.99, with a market cap of $1.94 trillion and 12-month highs of $784.75.
• Analysts increased price targets for Meta, with Benchmark raising theirs from $800.00 to $890.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total value of $393,054.42. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 5,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,005,049.68. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

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

• On Monday, July 28th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $715.00, for a total value of $369,655.00.
• On Monday, July 21st, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.41, for a total value of $365,213.97.
• On Monday, July 14th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.50, for a total value of $370,947.50.
• On Monday, July 7th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total value of $370,952.67.
• 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 shares were 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.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0%

META stock traded up $7.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $769.09. The company had a trading volume of 5,188,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,478,844. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $711.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $649.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders 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 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after buying an additional 682,768 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have given 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 $822.41.

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.