Q3 2024 EPS Estimates for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Cut by Analyst

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Wedbush dropped their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $4.43 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $4.86. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $480.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.18 per share.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.37% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on META. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $404.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.