Meta Platforms, Inc. to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $4.61 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Stock analysts at William Blair upped their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $4.61 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $4.60. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $20.33 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2024 earnings at $19.17 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $5.11 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $5.11 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $5.38 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $6.39 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $22.00 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $443.29 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $404.85.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.