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

Associated Banc Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 65,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 5,010 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.0% of Associated Banc Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. United Bank increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.6% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 8,220 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 232.6% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 236.0% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 101,830 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $58,260,000 after purchasing an additional 71,523 shares during the last quarter. Towercrest Capital Management increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the first quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 1,997 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,627,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

Shares of META opened at $646.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $603.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $627.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.42 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “positive” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 39,503 shares of company stock worth $24,241,859 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.