Cantor Fitzgerald Expects Weaker Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their FY2025 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $24.45 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $25.20. Cantor Fitzgerald has a “Overweight” rating and a $790.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $687.00 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $710.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $611.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $564.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.