Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 8,041 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Key Points

• Ameritas Advisory Services LLC sold 8,041 shares of Meta Platforms, reducing its stake by 61.6% and currently holds 5,022 shares valued at approximately $3.7 million.
• Institutional investors own 79.91% of Meta's stock, with several firms recently increasing their positions or investing in the company.
• Meta Platforms recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525, representing a yield of 0.3%, with a current dividend payout ratio of 7.60%.

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 61.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,022 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 8,041 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 102.6% in the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $704.81, for a total value of $364,386.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,702,038.29. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $757.47, for a total transaction of $352,223.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,371,837.64. The trade was a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 214,182 shares of company stock worth $164,946,219. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on META shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $830.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $980.00 price target (up from $888.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $830.68.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.8%

META opened at $705.30 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $752.20 and a 200-day moving average of $678.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.60%.

Meta Platforms 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.