Meta Platforms, Inc. Expected to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $4.96 Per Share (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Roth Capital boosted their Q2 2024 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, April 25th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $4.96 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.79. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.33 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2024 earnings at $20.88 EPS.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $443.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $404.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $11,285,855,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. 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.