Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells $245,578.20 in Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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

• On Friday, April 12th, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total value of $253,697.50.
• On Friday, April 5th, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90.
• On Monday, April 1st, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $486.75, for a total transaction of $238,507.50.
• On Friday, March 22nd, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.00, for a total transaction of $248,430.00.
• On Friday, March 15th, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.25, for a total transaction of $239,242.50.
• On Friday, March 8th, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total transaction of $251,526.80.
• On Friday, March 1st, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $492.13, for a total transaction of $241,143.70.
• On Friday, February 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70.
• On Thursday, February 15th, Javier Olivan sold 7,556 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,576,103.68.
• On Monday, January 29th, Javier Olivan sold 6,500 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $441.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $495.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $403.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $208.88 and a twelve month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 435 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

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.