Meta Platforms (META) Expected to Announce Earnings on Wednesday

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is expected to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, January 29th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $6.75 per share and revenue of $46,963,410.95 billion for the quarter. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2024 guidance at EPS.Persons that wish to listen to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts expect Meta Platforms to post $23 EPS for the current fiscal year and $26 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $560.51. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

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.