Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.39 EPS

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39, reports. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Meta Platforms updated its Q2 2024 guidance to EPS.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

META traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $494.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $404.27. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. 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 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bluesphere Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 12.2% during the third quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 917 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.1% during the third quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,487,000 after buying an additional 4,590 shares in the last quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the third quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Essex LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 36.2% during the third quarter. Essex LLC now owns 5,375 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,415,000 after buying an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

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.