Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $508,770.45 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $508,770.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 6,290 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,376.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 27th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $382,337.65.
• 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 value of $406,239.65.
• On Monday, July 20th, Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $540,576.45.
• On Monday, July 6th, Javier Olivan sold 1,887 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were 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 stock was 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 stock was 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 transaction of $383,048.42.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded down $7.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $585.61. 21,386,091 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,706,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.25. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $520.26 and a 12-month high of $796.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $603.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $624.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by ($0.95). Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in 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 valued at $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after buying an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 488.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,466,595 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,608,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,537,076 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. The result suggests that advertising demand, user engagement and AI-enhanced ad targeting remain healthy. Meta stock sinks as Q2 earnings disappoint on multiple fronts
• Positive Sentiment: Reality Labs posted a loss of more than $4.6 billion, but the deficit was narrower than analysts expected, providing a modest offset to the broader earnings concerns. Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4.6 billion in second quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with BlackRock to develop a roughly $14 billion, one-gigawatt Texas data-center campus could help share the financing burden and secure computing capacity for future AI services. Meta, BlackRock partner on $14 billion El Paso data center
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s support for open AI development and opposition to banning Chinese AI models may encourage broader innovation, but it also creates potential regulatory and geopolitical uncertainty. Meta’s Zuckerberg says US should not block Chinese AI models
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings per share came in at $6.18, well below estimates near $7.13-$7.22 and down about 13% year over year. Higher operating expenses, including legal charges, caused costs to rise faster than revenue. Meta profit misses estimates on higher costs
• Negative Sentiment: Meta now expects to spend approximately $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and related infrastructure this year. The larger investment plan is intensifying concerns about free-cash-flow pressure and whether AI monetization will justify the spending. Meta Stock Tanks In Jittery Market On Massive AI Investment, Mixed Q2
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion surrounds consensus of $63.2 billion, signaling a potentially softer near-term growth outlook while spending remains elevated.

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.