Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Wedbush raised their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a report issued on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the social networking company will earn $5.20 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.86. Wedbush has a "Outperform" rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $21.44 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q4 2024 earnings at $6.21 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $21.28 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.25 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $5.50 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $5.69 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.03 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $23.47 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $26.56 EPS.
Several other analysts have also commented on META. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $621.63.
Get Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $1.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $591.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,531,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,101,563. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $296.86 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $553.36 and a 200 day moving average of $511.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,597,382,000 after buying an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $16,799,612,000 after buying an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,867,398 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $6,733,731,000 after buying an additional 2,748,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,582,876,000 after buying an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,230 shares of company stock worth $132,784,843 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.
About Meta Platforms
(
Get Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of 10 cheap stocks that have been overlooked by the market and may be seriously undervalued. Click the link below to see which companies made the list.
Get This Free Report
