Cantor Fitzgerald Estimates Meta Platforms FY2024 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald cut their FY2024 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $22.67 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $22.70. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Overweight” rating and a $720.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.96 per share. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $25.20 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $598.87 and a 200-day moving average of $558.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $382.08 and a 52 week high of $638.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.