Cantor Fitzgerald Predicts Meta Platforms FY2025 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their FY2025 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $24.45 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $25.20. Cantor Fitzgerald has a “Overweight” rating and a $790.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $613.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 42,603 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,944,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 17,452 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,218,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008 shares during the last quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 489 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,301,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.