Cantor Fitzgerald Comments on Meta Platforms FY2024 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald cut their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now expects that the social networking company will earn $22.70 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $22.73. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Overweight” rating and a $670.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.68 per share.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 firm 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 return on equity of 35.60%.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on META. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $610.72 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $355.36 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $591.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $551.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,911,029,000 after purchasing an additional 208,677 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total transaction of $533,922.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,292 shares in the company, valued at $19,641,281.24. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 410,949 shares of company stock valued at $249,265,810. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.