FY2024 EPS Estimates for Meta Platforms Decreased by Analyst

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald cut their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now forecasts that the social networking company will earn $22.70 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $22.73. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Overweight” rating and a $670.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.68 per share.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $615.86 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $358.61 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $593.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $552.97. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This trade represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,441 shares of company stock valued at $249,595,828 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.