Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.39 EPS

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39, reports. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms updated its Q2 2024 guidance to EPS.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $404.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $229.85 and a twelve month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given 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 was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after buying an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,054,513 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,469,906,000 after buying an additional 927,491 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 34,738,470 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,296,383,000 after buying an additional 1,083,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $545.00 target price (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

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.