Insider Selling: Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Sells 837 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $510,025.95. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,933,071. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

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

• On Monday, May 18th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total transaction of $383,281.15.
• On Monday, May 11th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.57, for a total transaction of $380,274.53.
• On Monday, May 11th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.57, for a total transaction of $559,831.82.
• On Monday, May 4th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.74, for a total value of $382,268.46.
• On Monday, May 4th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.74, for a total value of $562,767.24.
• On Monday, April 27th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $670.84, for a total value of $621,197.84.
• On Monday, April 27th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was 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.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $602.61. 11,716,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,909,861. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $620.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $637.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Pivotal Research reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 76,587.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 105,292,277 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $69,502,379,000 after purchasing an additional 105,154,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $59,963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,395,763 shares during the period. 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 valued at $34,734,628,000 after purchasing an additional 878,396 shares in 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 valued at $26,112,735,000 after purchasing an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Negative Sentiment: Meta began laying off about 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a broader AI-first transformation. The move highlights rising restructuring costs and suggests more cuts could follow later this year. Meta Begins Laying Off 8,000 Employees Amid A.I. Transformation
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Meta is cutting jobs while ramping up AI investment have kept attention on margin pressure and the scale of the company’s AI spending bill, which some investors view as a near-term drag on earnings. Meta Moves 7,000 Workers Into AI Roles Ahead of Job Cuts
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta offered rival AI chatbot makers limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe before charging once usage limits are reached. The move could support platform engagement and developer adoption, but the financial impact is still unclear. Exclusive: Meta offers AI rival chatbots limited free WhatsApp access, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta also drew attention for new AI-related product and safety initiatives, including an incognito chat feature for WhatsApp’s AI assistant and new parental supervision tools, but these are not likely to move the stock in the near term. Meta Platforms (META) Launching Incognito Chat for WhatsApp AI Assistant

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.