Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $540,576.45 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total value of $540,576.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,602,972.95. This trade represents a 10.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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, July 20th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $406,239.65.
• On Monday, July 6th, Javier Olivan sold 1,887 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.62, for a total transaction of $1,133,369.94.
• On Monday, July 6th, Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56.
• On Monday, June 15th, Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00.
• On Monday, June 15th, Javier Olivan sold 140 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $84,000.00.
• On Monday, June 1st, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $395,823.41.
• On Monday, June 1st, Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $526,715.73.
• On Tuesday, May 26th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $608.98, for a total value of $383,048.42.
• On Tuesday, May 26th, Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.98, for a total value of $509,716.26.
• On Monday, May 18th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $383,281.15.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded up $2.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $596.29. The company had a trading volume of 4,125,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,617,531. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $520.26 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $604.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $625.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,608,445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong: Guggenheim reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set an $800 price target, implying substantial upside from recent levels. Benzinga analyst rating
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure could support long-term growth: Meta and BlackRock announced a venture to develop and operate a roughly $14 billion data-center campus in El Paso, Texas. Sharing development and ownership costs with a major financial partner may help Meta expand computing capacity while reducing its direct capital burden. Meta BlackRock data center article
• Positive Sentiment: Advertising remains the key earnings opportunity: Recent analyses point to AI-driven improvements in user engagement, ad inventory and monetization, while Meta enters the report with a history of beating estimates and a valuation below its historical average. Meta valuation and earnings analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings volatility is elevated: Traders expect a sizable post-earnings move, and short sellers have increased positions in Meta and other large technology stocks ahead of this week’s results. Short sellers ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Capital-spending concerns are weighing on the stock: Alphabet’s higher 2026 spending forecast triggered a sell-off across hyperscalers, raising questions about whether Meta’s aggressive AI investments will generate sufficient returns. Meta’s data-center financing also reportedly carried a higher interest rate than a comparable prior deal. Hyperscaler capital spending scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and regulatory risks remain significant: Meta faces lawsuits alleging that it ignored research concerning harm to teenagers and failed to prevent abuse on its platforms. Potential financial penalties and mandated product changes add uncertainty during an expensive AI investment cycle. Tennessee lawsuit article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $835.64.

About Meta Platforms

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.