Meta Platforms FY2024 EPS Forecast Lifted by Zacks Research

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, November 20th. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $22.40 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $20.67. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.53 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2024 earnings at $6.50 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.34 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.13 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $24.31 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion.

META has been the subject of several other reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $559.14 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $313.66 and a 1-year high of $602.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $572.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $524.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sculati Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,023,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,097,000. Fulcrum Equity Management boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.0% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 894 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $296,000. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,704,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total transaction of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.36, for a total transaction of $4,117,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,884 shares in the company, valued at $274,643,622.24. This trade represents a 1.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 152,141 shares of company stock valued at $83,390,497 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.