Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Purchases 26,562 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 797,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 26,562 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $462,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $88,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,169 shares during the period. WMS Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $876,000. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 84,059 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,487,000 after buying an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta and kept an overweight rating, signaling expectations for meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Wells Fargo target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn also boosted its target and reiterated a buy rating, reflecting growing optimism that Meta can monetize AI more effectively. Benzinga report on Rothschild & Co Redburn target hike
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted Meta’s expanding AI strategy, including possible cloud/compute sales and large enterprise deals, which could create a new revenue stream and support margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America said Meta is positioned to beat second-quarter expectations, citing healthy ad demand and AI-driven improvements ahead of earnings later this month.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary continues to frame Meta as a key beneficiary of the AI spending boom, with investors watching whether infrastructure investment can be monetized faster than expected.
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison piece versus Pinterest and a broader “Mag 7” article mainly added background, but did not change the core investment thesis for META.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a Tennessee trial over claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive and contributed to youth mental-health issues, adding legal and regulatory risk.
• Negative Sentiment: A New York Times report said Meta’s AI moderation mistakenly banned user accounts, raising questions about product reliability and trust in its automated systems.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing investor concerns remain around heavy AI spending, data-center financing, and whether returns on that capital will justify the expense.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

META opened at $643.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $604.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $626.52.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.47 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $767.00 to $835.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citizens Jmp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Arete Research set a $735.00 target price on Meta Platforms and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $810.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, June 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $835.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares in the company, valued at $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock valued at $23,184,319 over the last quarter. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.