Conning Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 48.8% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,191 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,886,000 after buying an additional 16,138 shares during the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,742 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,158,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% in the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 2,093 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $916,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,304 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,604,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $572.43 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $556.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $513.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total value of $8,569,629.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,654 shares in the company, valued at $50,618,380.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.09, for a total value of $8,569,629.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 98,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,618,380.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,197,043.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 243,919 shares of company stock worth $129,296,067. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.