JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $640.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $610.00 to $640.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $562.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $625.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $591.23.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $567.36 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $516.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $499.63. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $279.40 and a 12 month high of $577.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total value of $453,015.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,944,071.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.57, for a total value of $453,015.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,944,071.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.93, for a total transaction of $5,699,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 328,662 shares in the company, valued at $187,314,333.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 325,656 shares of company stock worth $171,028,659. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,733,731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $595,152,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meta Platforms

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.