Javier Olivan Sells 608 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.45, for a total value of $338,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,790,040.30. This represents a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, April 7th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44.
• On Monday, March 31st, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24.
• On Monday, March 24th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76.
• On Monday, March 17th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total transaction of $369,360.00.
• On Monday, March 10th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00.
• On Monday, March 3rd, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68.
• On Monday, February 24th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total value of $417,258.24.
• On Tuesday, February 18th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total transaction of $447,530.56.
• On Saturday, February 15th, Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02.
• On Monday, February 3rd, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total transaction of $279,188.00.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $608.14 and its 200 day moving average is $606.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

About Meta Platforms

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.