Meta Platforms FY2024 EPS Estimate Boosted by Roth Capital

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at Roth Capital lifted their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now anticipates that the social networking company will earn $22.40 per share for the year, up from their previous 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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 36.26%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Price 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. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $308.33 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The stock 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $555.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $513.12.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at $310,890,460.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 251,993 shares of company stock worth $133,271,982. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,953 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after buying an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% during the first quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 34,790 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,894,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504 shares during the period. 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.