Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,151,465 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 342,790 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Meta Platforms worth $2,375,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Citizens National Bank Trust Department grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 7,318 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 32,915 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,024 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,586 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,052,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 53.0% in the first quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 18,203 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,415,000 after purchasing an additional 6,302 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.45.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,503 shares of company stock valued at $24,241,859 in the last 90 days. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of META stock opened at $646.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $520.26 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $603.17 and a 200 day moving average of $627.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms 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.