Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan Sells 629 Shares

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) COO Javier Olivan sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $402,044.22. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,880,467.56. The trade was a 17.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, February 17th, Javier Olivan sold 172 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.18, for a total value of $109,938.96.
• On Sunday, February 15th, Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97.
• On Monday, February 9th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $663.19, for a total value of $342,869.23.
• On Monday, February 2nd, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.60, for a total transaction of $369,448.20.
• On Monday, January 26th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.00, for a total transaction of $343,805.00.
• On Tuesday, January 20th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $608.35, for a total transaction of $314,516.95.
• On Monday, January 12th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $653.00, for a total value of $337,601.00.
• On Monday, January 5th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $650.41, for a total value of $336,261.97.
• On Monday, December 29th, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $658.14, for a total value of $340,258.38.
• On Monday, December 22nd, Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $661.11, for a total value of $341,793.87.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $3.93 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $643.22. The stock had a trading volume of 14,619,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,848,533. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $656.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $691.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $885.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $844.29.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta struck a multiyear, large-scale deal with Nvidia to buy millions of current and future AI GPUs and standalone CPUs, plus networking and rack systems — securing supply for Meta’s AI training/inference data-center buildout and signaling a stronger AI roadmap. Nvidia to sell Meta millions of chips
• Positive Sentiment: Smart-money buying: recent 13F/press reports show billionaire managers increasing exposure to Meta (David Tepper, Bill Ackman/Pershing Square among them), reinforcing investor confidence that Meta is a leading AI platform play. Tepper goes big on Micron, Meta, Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional conviction and cash‑flow narrative: analysts and write-ups argue recent higher CAPEX guidance and FQ4 results were overreacted to — Meta projects multi-year free cash flow to fund buybacks/AI investment, which tempers valuation concerns. Why strong money loves Meta
• Neutral Sentiment: Supplier/eco-system effects: Meta’s AI/data-center push benefits partners (e.g., Corning, energy suppliers) and broadens capital spending across the supply chain — supportive for long-term growth but increases near-term capex and partner concentration. Corning’s surprise AI boom
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying in a high-profile Los Angeles trial on Instagram’s impact on youth mental health — a “Big Tobacco”-style case that could lead to reputational damage, fines, or new regulation. Zuckerberg faces questioning at youth addiction trial
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure abroad: Spain has requested probes into AI-generated images on major platforms and India is discussing age-based social media restrictions — any new rules or enforcement actions in large user markets could raise compliance costs and constrain engagement/ads. Spain to probe X, Meta, TikTok

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 90,841,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $59,963,463,000 after buying an additional 4,395,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $34,734,628,000 after buying an additional 878,396 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted 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 worth $26,112,735,000 after buying an additional 310,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 37,553,102 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,788,429,000 after buying an additional 823,883 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.