Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.46 EPS

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46, Briefing.com reports. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Meta Platforms updated its Q3 2024 guidance to EPS.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $9.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $488.14. 24,044,658 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,151,374. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $274.38 and a one year high of $542.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $494.09 and its 200-day moving average is $478.31.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total transaction of $2,317,255.35. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,373,427.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 310,685 shares of company stock valued at $154,398,206. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.