Associated Banc Corp Sells 5,010 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Associated Banc Corp lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,044 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 5,010 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.0% of Associated Banc Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Bayban boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Wedbush began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $671.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Susquehanna raised Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $835.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $830.45.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total value of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,503 shares of company stock worth $24,241,859. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is reportedly in early talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion. Investors view that as a possible new revenue stream that would help Meta monetize its AI infrastructure and validate demand for its computing capacity. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Meta also unveiled its newest AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, and the company is reportedly considering a broader cloud push. Together, those moves reinforce the idea that Meta can turn heavy AI spending into products and services that generate returns. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Meta’s earnings outlook, with Erste Group raising its FY2027 EPS estimate and maintaining a Buy rating. That adds to the bullish case heading into the next earnings report. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A federal judge declined to block Meta from laying off workers who filed an AI discrimination lawsuit. The ruling removes an immediate legal obstacle, but the underlying claims over alleged bias in AI-driven job cuts still create headline risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is also facing scrutiny from employees over AI-assisted layoffs, with allegations that its tools discriminated against protected groups. That could keep legal and reputational pressure on the stock. Article Title

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $646.01 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $603.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $627.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.

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