Cantor Fitzgerald Estimates Meta Platforms FY2025 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst D. Mathivanan now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $24.69 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $24.45. 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 $26.70 per share. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2025 earnings at $24.69 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $648.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $610.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total transaction of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.