Roth Capital Equities Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Roth Capital decreased their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now expects that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.03 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $5.15. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.20 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $23.64 EPS.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $443.29 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $405.39. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $229.85 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company 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%.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,469,906,000 after purchasing an additional 927,491 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were 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 $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759 in the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.