FY2024 EPS Estimates for Meta Platforms Lifted by Analyst

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at Roth Capital lifted their FY2024 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $22.40 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $21.29. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $21.47 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2024 earnings at $6.50 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.47 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $6.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.33 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.51 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $25.35 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 36.26%.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on META. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $567.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $555.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $513.03. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $308.33 and a 1-year high of $602.95.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after purchasing an additional 244,803 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake 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 during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders 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 was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.