JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Price Target to $480.00

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $535.00 to $480.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the social networking company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.28% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $229.85 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average of $404.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.37%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after acquiring an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,296,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% 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.