Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Given New $875.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has raised its price target for Meta Platforms from $795 to $875, indicating a potential upside of 12.04% from the current stock price and maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• Meta Platforms reported earnings of $7.14 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $47.52 billion, a 21.6% increase year-over-year.
• Insiders at Meta, including CFO Susan J. Li and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have sold notable amounts of stock recently, reflecting a decrease in their ownership positions.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $795.00 to $875.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the social networking company's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on META. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $815.09.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2%

META traded down $16.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $756.64. 6,407,317 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,560,782. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $699.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $644.61. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $450.80 and a 1 year high of $784.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 40.31%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th 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 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $719.86, for a total transaction of $373,607.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,392,423. This trade represents a 1.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 152,980 shares of company stock valued at $105,708,832. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.