Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan Sells 2,838 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 2,838 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $616.71, for a total value of $1,750,222.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,662 shares in the company, valued at $7,192,072.02. This represents a 19.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Tuesday, September 8th, Javier Olivan sold 2,516 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.44, for a total value of $1,550,963.04.
• On Monday, August 10th, Javier Olivan sold 434 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.70, for a total value of $261,571.80.
• On Monday, August 10th, Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $754,800.00.
• On Monday, July 27th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total value of $382,337.65.
• On Monday, July 27th, Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.85, for a total transaction of $508,770.45.
• On Monday, July 20th, Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $406,239.65.
• On Monday, July 20th, Javier Olivan sold 837 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $645.85, for a total transaction of $540,576.45.
• On Monday, July 6th, Javier Olivan sold 1,887 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.62, for a total transaction of $1,133,369.94.
• On Monday, July 6th, Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56.
• On Monday, June 15th, Javier Olivan sold 1,258 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $754,800.00.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:META traded down $9.31 on Thursday, hitting $644.38. 20,444,607 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,959,063. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $599.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $608.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $790.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The company has a market cap of $1.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 33.18%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 28.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $780.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $640.00 to $820.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $787.54.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Muse gains traction: Meta’s AI agent reportedly reached the No. 2 position among U.S. apps shortly after launch. Muse can perform tasks across Meta’s platforms and third-party services, including email, travel bookings and payments, with free and paid subscription tiers. This supports the case that Meta’s large AI investments could eventually produce a new recurring-revenue stream. Meta’s AI agent Muse is now the No. 2 app in the US
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and infrastructure upside: JPMorgan upgraded Meta to Overweight and raised its price target to $820, citing the company’s frontier AI models and agents as a growth opportunity beyond advertising. Another analysis suggested Meta may ultimately sell excess AI computing capacity as an AI cloud provider, adding potential upside not reflected in current estimates. JPMorgan upgrades Meta on AI models and agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street remains divided: Investors are encouraged by Muse’s adoption, but its long-term monetization, infrastructure costs and impact on margins remain unproven. Meta’s previous quarter showed strong revenue growth, but earnings missed expectations as AI-related spending increased.
• Negative Sentiment: Key AI researcher departure: Star researcher Andrew Tulloch is leaving Meta for Anthropic, despite reportedly receiving a multibillion-dollar compensation offer. The exit raises questions about Meta’s ability to retain top AI talent amid intensifying competition. Top AI researcher Andrew Tulloch leaves Meta for Anthropic
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational and execution risks: Reports of a large-scale ad scandal, internal Applied AI reorganization and continuing privacy concerns could weigh on sentiment. A chief accounting officer’s pre-arranged sale of shares is a minor additional negative, though it does not necessarily signal deteriorating fundamentals.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc develops technologies that help people connect, communicate and build communities online. The company’s principal products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and digital communication.

Meta generates most of its business through advertising displayed across its family of apps. It also develops artificial intelligence technologies, business messaging tools and hardware and software through its Reality Labs division, including Quest virtual- and mixed-reality devices and related experiences.

The company was founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was renamed Meta Platforms in 2021 to reflect its broader focus on building the metaverse.