Meta Platforms (META) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Meta Platforms, Inc. is a US-based multinational technology company and 1 of the Big 5 US tech companies. It is a member of the FAANG group holding the first position with its original name, Facebook.

Meta Platforms, Inc life began in 2004 as a digital “face book” for Harvard students. The company was founded by Mark Zuckerburg and a group of friends but now only Zuckerburg remains. The company quickly grew and expanded into other universities and then opened itself to the public in 2006. As of 2006, anyone over the age of 13 can be a Facebook user which is the company’s primary source of income. As of 2022, the company claimed more than 2.9 billion monthly active Facebook users.

Facebook, Inc filed for its IPO on January 1st 2012. The prospectus stated the company was seeking to raise $5 billion but it got so much more. The day before the IPO execs announced it would sell 25% more stock than it had previously stated because of the high demand. The company wound up raising more than $16 billion making it the 3rd largest IPO in history at the time.

The massive IPO valuation earned Facebook a spot in the S&P 500 in the first year of its public life. Although its valuation has deteriorated in the wake of scandal and consumer trends within social media, early investors were treated to gains in excess of 1000% at the peak of the stock run. Mark Zuckerburg retained 22% ownership in the company following the IPO, and 57% of the voting rights. As of 2022, those holdings were down to about 14% of the company and 54% of the voting rights.

Over the years, Facebook acquired a large number of apps and other businesses that include but are not limited to Instagram and WhatsApp. The company changed its name to Meta Platforms DBA Meta in 2021 to reflect its business and mission better. The new name describes the metaverse and refers to the seamless social interaction provided by Meta’s social media application universe.

Today, Meta develops digital applications that allow people to connect with family, friends, businesses, and merchants through Internet connections. Applications are available for mobile, PC, VR, and smart homes.

The company’s primary operating segment is the Family of Apps. The family of Apps includes Facebook and all the other digital applications. This segment produces virtually all of the revenue which is in turn 97% advertising oriented. The other operating segment is Reality Labs. Reality Labs develops and markets a line of virtual and augmented-reality products.

Written by Jeffrey Neal Johnson

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $551.50 to $572.57
• 50-Day Range: $504.79 to $595.94
• 52-Week Range: $313.66 to $602.95
• Volume: 17.71 million shs
• Average Volume: 13.13 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.40 trillion
• P/E Ratio: 26.10
• Dividend Yield: 0.36%
• Price Target: $634.10
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Meta Platforms Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Meta Platforms scored higher than 91% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 106th out of 659 stocks in the computer and technology sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Meta Platforms has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.86, and is based on 35 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Meta Platforms has been the subject of 31 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.32%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Meta Platforms are expected to grow by 11.32% in the coming year, from $22.53 to $25.08 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Meta Platforms is 26.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 115.94.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Meta Platforms is 26.10, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Computer and Technology sector average P/E ratio of about 238.27.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Meta Platforms has a PEG Ratio of 1.23. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Meta Platforms has a P/B Ratio of 8.50. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.40% of the float of Meta Platforms has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Meta Platforms has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.6, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Meta Platforms has recently decreased by 2.43%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Meta Platforms has a dividend yield of 0.35%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Meta Platforms does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Meta Platforms is 9.42%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Meta Platforms will have a dividend payout ratio of 7.97% next year. This indicates that Meta Platforms will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.40% of the float of Meta Platforms has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Meta Platforms has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.6, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Meta Platforms has recently decreased by 2.43%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.94

News Sentiment

Meta Platforms has a news sentiment score of 0.94. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.60 average news sentiment score of Computer and Technology companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 157 news articles for Meta Platforms this week, compared to 69 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

410 people have searched for META on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 22% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 529 people have added Meta Platforms to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -5% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Meta Platforms insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $84,533,106.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

13.71% of the stock of Meta Platforms is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

79.91% of the stock of Meta Platforms is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

META Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have META shares performed this year?

Meta Platforms' stock was trading at $353.96 at the start of the year. Since then, META shares have increased by 56.5% and is now trading at $554.08.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Meta Platforms' earnings last quarter?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October, 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The social networking company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 35.60%.

Does Meta Platforms have any subsidiaries?

Meta Platforms subsidiaries include these companies: Kustomer, Lemnis Technologies, Mapillary, GIPHY, Sanzaru Games Inc, Scape Technologies, Packagd, and others.

Who are Meta Platforms' major shareholders?

Meta Platforms' top institutional investors include FMR LLC (5.48%), State Street Corp (3.37%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.91%) and Jennison Associates LLC (0.57%). Insiders that own company stock include Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Christopher K Cox, Jennifer Newstead, David M Wehner, David M Wehner, Andrew Bosworth, Javier Olivan, Nicholas Clegg, Peggy Alford, Marne L Levine, Susan JS Taylor and Susan J Li.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Meta Platforms?

Shares of META stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Meta Platforms own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Meta Platforms investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Alibaba Group (BABA), Netflix (NFLX) and Salesforce (CRM).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/26 Dividend: 9/16/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/26/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/30/2024
• Today: 11/17/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 2/06/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Computer and Technology
• Industry: Computer programming, data processing, & other computer related
• Sub-Industry: Internet Software & Services
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:META
• Previous Symbol: NASDAQ:FB
• CUSIP: 30303M10
• CIK: 1326801
• Web: www.facebook.com
• Phone: (650) 543-4800
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 67,317
• Year Founded: 2004

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $634.10
• High Stock Price Target: $811.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $360.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +14.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.86
• Research Coverage: 43 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $21.23
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 26.10
• Forward P/E Ratio: 24.59
• P/E Growth: 1.23
• Net Income: $39.10 billion
• Net Margins: 35.55%
• Pretax Margin: 40.91%
• Return on Equity: 35.60%
• Return on Assets: 23.66%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.18
• Current Ratio: 2.73
• Quick Ratio: 2.73

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $156.23 billion
• Price / Sales: 8.95
• Cash Flow: $19.72 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 28.10
• Book Value: $65.17 per share
• Price / Book: 8.50

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 2,524,489,000
• Free Float: 2,178,382,000
• Market Cap: $1.40 trillion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.22