Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,225 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 1,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.00, for a total transaction of $431,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,465 shares in the company, valued at $19,778,805. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.00, for a total value of $431,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 41,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,778,805. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total value of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 388,078 shares of company stock worth $200,792,168. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $574.41.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $517.16. 2,950,656 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,954,499. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $504.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $492.38. The company has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $279.40 and a 52 week high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.