Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Forecasted to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $5.22 Per Share

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Roth Capital boosted their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Thursday, August 1st. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.22 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $5.03. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.50 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2024 earnings at $6.20 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $21.29 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.10 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $5.70 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.13 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.34 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $24.26 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $488.14 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $274.38 and a 12-month high of $542.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $479.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,724,113. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total value of $50,054,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,466,976.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock worth $154,398,206 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

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.