Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg has unloaded 283,334 shares of the company in a transaction completed on June 5th. Sandberg sold the shares at an average price of $63.56, for a total value of $18,008,709.04. Following the transaction, the executive still owns 7,872,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $500,357,413, according to the filing with SEC.
Sandberg to share proceeds with charity
To date, Sandberg has sold more than $152 million worth of shares at prices between $58 per share to over $72 per share. Some of the funds that Sandberg will get from the sales of the stock will probably go to charities including Lean In. Sandberg joined the Giving Pledge in May under which she will give away half of her wealth to the charity. Forbes reported that Sandberg worth is around $1 billion.
Facebook stock has been subjected to various analyst ratings recently. Zacks analysts maintained their Neutral rating on the stock and assigned it a price target of $67.00 in a research note to investors dated Wednesday, May 28th. Analysts at Evercore Partners increased their rating from Equal Weight to an Over Weight, assigning the firm a price target of $75.00. Cantor Fitzgerald analysts assigned a Buy rating to the stock in a research note to investors published on Tuesday May 20th. Facebook currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.89.
Facebook losing users in UK
In its latest quarterly results, the social networking giant posted earnings per share of $0.34, above the consensus estimates of $0.24. Revenue for the company came in at $2.50 billion, an increase from the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion, and up 71.6% year over year. For the full year, analysts are expecting the company to post earnings of $1.43 per share.
A recent report by YouGov Sixth Sense Social Media report claimed that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) usage has decline by around 9% in the United Kingdom in the wake of declining interest and privacy concerns along with the growth in the social media advertising. Due to these issues, one in ten social media users have stopped using their Facebook and/or Twitter account over the past one year. Facebook still holds 86% of active social media users.
