Javier Olivan Sells 926 Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total value of $560,581.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 13,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,072,742.30. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, March 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $605.38, for a total transaction of $380,784.02.
• On Monday, March 16th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total transaction of $397,540.58.
• On Monday, March 16th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $632.02, for a total transaction of $585,250.52.
• On Monday, March 9th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total transaction of $399,377.26.
• On Monday, March 9th, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $634.94, for a total transaction of $587,954.44.
• On Monday, March 2nd, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total transaction of $400,805.09.
• On Monday, March 2nd, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $637.21, for a total transaction of $590,056.46.
• On Monday, February 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total transaction of $410,535.72.
• On Monday, February 23rd, Javier Olivan sold 926 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.68, for a total value of $604,381.68.
• On Tuesday, February 17th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $402,044.22.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $1.97 on Wednesday, hitting $594.89. 12,546,168 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,800,681. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $647.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $670.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $22,152,075,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after purchasing an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 488.1% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 4,537,076 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $900.00 price target (up from $870.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $846.63.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta signed on as the launch customer/co-developer for Arm’s new AGI CPU, which de-risks Arm’s data-center push and signals Meta is securing bespoke AI infrastructure to lower long?term AI costs and improve performance. Arm launches first own-brand chip with Meta as launch customer
• Positive Sentiment: Meta is rolling out AI initiatives for commerce and small businesses (Meta Small Business, AI shopping tools), and is integrating AI across workflows — developments investors view as revenue?accretive and margin?supporting over time. Meta launches new initiative to support entrepreneurship, drive AI adoption
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta granted performance?tied stock awards and options to senior executives to retain talent during the AI race; markets see this as a retention positive but with aggressive targets (and potential dilution) embedded. Meta grants senior executives stock awards to retain talent
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Meta will cut several hundred roles (and unconfirmed reports of up to 20% headcount reductions) are being parsed as either necessary cost discipline amid huge AI CapEx or a sign of execution risk; investors are treating this as a mixed signal. Meta to lay off hundreds of employees
• Negative Sentiment: A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million after finding the company violated state consumer?protection laws by enabling sexual exploitation of minors — a headline legal loss that increases litigation and reputational risk. Meta found liable in child exploitation case, ordered to pay $375 million
• Negative Sentiment: In a separate Los Angeles bellwether, jurors found Meta negligent in a youth social?media addiction case and assessed punitive/compensatory damages (including a $2.1M punitive share for Meta), underscoring broader industry legal exposure that could prompt future damages or regulation. Jury Orders $3 Million in Punitive Damages Against Meta and YouTube
• Negative Sentiment: China has restricted founders of Manus amid a regulatory review of Meta’s acquisition, potentially delaying integration of AI talent and adding geopolitical execution risk. China bars Manus co-founders from leaving country as it reviews sale to Meta

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.