Associated Banc Corp Trims Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Associated Banc Corp lowered its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 70,054 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,483 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Associated Banc Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $46,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

More Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Meta and set an $810 price target, signaling meaningful upside from current levels. Tickerreport.com
• Positive Sentiment: A new AI adoption study ranked Meta among the top S&P 500 companies for AI execution, reinforcing the view that its AI investments are becoming strategically important. CNBC
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and said Meta’s AI monetization and enterprise adoption could help offset concerns about rising spending. Yahoo Finance / Investing.com
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets highlighted Meta as a top AI and virtual reality stock, adding to the longer-term bullish narrative around its product pipeline and AI push. Motley Fool

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,890 shares of company stock valued at $25,315,558. 13.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1%

Shares of META opened at $600.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $617.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $636.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $885.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $840.19.

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.