Insider Selling: Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $621,197.84 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $670.84, for a total transaction of $621,197.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 8,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,839,662.20. This trade represents a 9.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Monday, April 27th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $670.84, for a total transaction of $421,958.36.
• On Monday, April 20th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total transaction of $427,776.61.
• On Monday, April 20th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.09, for a total value of $629,763.34.
• On Monday, April 13th, Javier Olivan sold 1,887 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.55, for a total value of $1,187,960.85.
• On Monday, April 13th, Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10.
• On Monday, March 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total value of $380,784.02.
• On Monday, March 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total value of $560,581.88.
• On Monday, March 16th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $397,540.58.
• On Monday, March 16th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total value of $585,250.52.
• On Monday, March 9th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total value of $399,377.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $608.74 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $629.62 and a 200-day moving average of $648.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after acquiring an additional 105,154,977 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 52,806,712 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,734,628,000 after acquiring an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 39,558,637 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,112,735,000 after acquiring an additional 310,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.67.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat & AI ad momentum — Meta reported robust Q1 revenue and EPS, and management highlighted AI-driven ad tools and full‑stack model+chip co‑design that are expanding ad automation and advertiser reach. Meta Does Things Their Own Way
• Positive Sentiment: Robotics/AI talent add — Meta acquired humanoid‑robot startup Assured Robot Intelligence to accelerate robotics model optimization, signaling product diversification in AI/robotics. WSJ: Meta Acquires Assured Robot Intelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Energy and creator initiatives — Meta is signing energy partnerships (space solar/long‑duration storage) to secure power for compute-heavy AI centers and piloting stablecoin creator payouts — moves that support long‑term AI scale and monetization. AI drives growth (context)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions mixed — Some firms (e.g., Stifel) trimmed price targets but retained “buy”; others raised targets on longer‑term AI upside. These tweaks sustain divergent Wall Street views on valuation vs. heavy CapEx. Benzinga: Analyst Moves
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales disclosed — COO Javier Oliván sold shares under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan; routine but notable given market noise. SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Large CapEx raise spooks investors — Meta lifted 2026 capital expenditure guidance materially (now targeting major AI data‑center buildout), prompting concerns about near‑term free‑cash‑flow and returns; that is the primary reason the stock has been sold. Reuters: CapEx & market reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal pressure — Threats to pull apps from New Mexico over child‑safety rules and US senators’ scrutiny over ad removals amplify litigation/compliance risk and potential costs. Reuters: Lawmaker Scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Reality Labs losses & deal setbacks — Continued multi‑billion losses in Reality Labs and a blocked Manus acquisition in China highlight near‑term cash drag and execution risks on speculative bets. CNBC: Reality Labs Loss

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.