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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,662 shares in the company, valued at $5,837,841.52. This represents a 6.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

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

• On Monday, February 24th, Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was 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 value of $447,530.56.
• On Saturday, February 15th, Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value 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 value of $279,188.00.
• On Monday, January 27th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total value of $259,194.67.
• On Tuesday, January 21st, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00.
• On Monday, January 13th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total value of $250,596.01.
• On Monday, January 6th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30.
• On Monday, December 30th, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08.
• On Monday, December 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $627.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $656.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $599.31. The company has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valley Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.