Q3 2024 EPS Estimates for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Raised by Analyst

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Investment analysts at Wedbush raised their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now forecasts that the social networking company will earn $4.86 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.68. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.50 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2024 earnings at $5.94 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $20.67 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $22.36 EPS.

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

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on META. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.84.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $488.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $274.38 and a fifty-two week high of $542.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.09.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $190,756.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,817. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock worth $154,398,206. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during 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 buying an additional 4,908,251 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% during 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 buying an additional 4,440,229 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 3,888,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.