FY2024 EPS Estimates for Meta Platforms Increased by Analyst

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Stock analysts at Roth Capital raised their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, January 21st. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $22.49 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $22.40. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.96 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2024 earnings at $6.60 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.64 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $6.15 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.35 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.54 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $25.68 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 target price (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1 %

META opened at $636.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $385.66 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $600.06 and its 200 day moving average is $559.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Custom Index Systems LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 3,271 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $1,785,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 78,115 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,259 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,422 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,444,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Southern Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 549 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 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.