Conning Inc. Has $9.10 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Conning Inc. lessened its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,904 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 1,722 shares during the period. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. RHL Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bayban lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple pieces highlighted Meta’s expanding AI strategy, including reports that it is building out custom chips and massive computing capacity, with some commentary suggesting Meta could even broaden into cloud services. That supports the view that META is investing aggressively to stay competitive in AI. How Meta Platforms (META) Is Strengthening Its AI Infrastructure With Custom Chips and Massive Computing Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Several market articles argued that investors are still warming to Meta ahead of its next earnings report, pointing to strong ad growth, AI engagement, and continued long-term demand for its platforms. This is helping sentiment around the stock. Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta announced it will release second-quarter 2026 results on July 29, keeping attention on the upcoming earnings print. That event is adding anticipation, but it is not a direct operational surprise yet. Meta to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts are debating valuation and capital spending, with concerns that heavy AI capex could pressure free cash flow even if revenue remains strong. That creates a valuation headwind, but it is still largely a longer-term debate. Meta Q2 Preview: CAPEX And Free Cash Flow In Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is facing a new lawsuit from former employees alleging it used AI tools and workplace metrics to target workers on medical, parental, or other protected leave during layoffs. That raises legal and reputational risk for META. Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, former employees' lawsuit claims

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,483.25. This represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was 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 sold a total of 39,503 shares of company stock worth $24,241,859 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Wedbush upgraded Meta Platforms from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Arete Research set a $735.00 price objective on Meta Platforms and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $835.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $681.31 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $601.49 and its 200 day moving average is $626.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, 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.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.