Wedbush Predicts Meta Platforms’ Q3 Earnings (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Investment analysts at Wedbush boosted their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.20 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $4.86. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other research analysts have also commented on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $621.63.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $593.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $553.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $511.61. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $296.86 and a 12-month high of $602.95.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,230 shares of company stock valued at $132,784,843 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 831,047 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,748,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares during the last quarter. 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.