Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) executives are continuing to divest themselves of the company’s shares as the value of the firm rises. According to filings the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman and Chief Accounting Officer Jas Athwal both sold shares in the company in recent weeks. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares fell by close to 1% on today’s market.
According to the filings made on Thursday, Ebersman sold 23,400 shares in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) on April 29th and April 30th. Athwal sold 3000 of the company’s shares Thursday. The change in ownership at the company is by no means dramatic, and executives are expected to sell bits and pieces of their holdings here and there in order to make purchases or balance their portfolios.
Facebook insider selling continues
Just because insider selling is a regular occurrence doesn’t mean that investors should ignore it, particularly when it occurs so frequently in a growth company. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has been steadily selling off parts of her holdings of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) in large chunks in recent months.
That executive, made most famous by her book Lean In, has sold 283,334 shares on no less than eight occasions since the beginning of 2014. She has also sold smaller sections of the company in between those divestments, and her regular selling extend further back than January 1. Mark Zuckerberg famously cashed in around $2 billion of the company’s stock at the end of 2013.
Despite the movements by major executives to rid themselves of shares in the company, there is no real trouble with the recent decisions by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) executives to cash in some of their positions, even Mark Zuckerberg is still holding onto far more of the company than he sold on last year, and none of the executives are selling in a manner that would suggest they’re leaning for the door.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) prospects are looking better right now than they have since the company went public and shares are still trading above $60, well above the average price when most executives decided to rid themselves of part of their company holdings.
Facebook looks to transform mobile
At its F8 developers conference earlier this week Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) revealed some incredibly ambitious plans to change the way the mobile world works, and to plant itself directly at the center of its new architecture. If executives were selling out of stock at an unusual rate that might indicate a lack of faith in the idea at the company, and investors would be right to question its future.
As things stand, however, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) appears to be healthy, and it seems to have ambitious plans about its future position in the tech world. The company’s stock is still valued at a massive multiple of its earnings, indicating an expectation of huge growth in the years ahead. Whether or not an investor believes Facebook can deliver on its mobile dream may have little to do with whether they sell or buy the stock, given its current valuation.
