Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $398,090.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Javier Olivan, COO of Meta Platforms, sold 517 shares of the company stock on August 11 for a total of $398,090, reducing his ownership by 9.81% to 4,751 shares.
• Meta Platforms reported impressive quarterly earnings on July 30, with $7.14 EPS and revenue of $47.52 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• Significant target price upgrades were given by analysts, with Royal Bank of Canada boosting its target for Meta from $740 to $840, while Rosenblatt Securities increased its target from $846 to $918.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $770.00, for a total value of $398,090.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 4,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,658,270. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, August 4th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.26, for a total value of $393,054.42.
• 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 shares were 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 shares were 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 shares were 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 shares were 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 shares were sold at an average price of $644.93, for a total value of $333,428.81.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $9.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $780.08. The stock had a trading volume of 8,791,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,328,413. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $718.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $653.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $795.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $840.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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.

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