Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) – William Blair decreased their Q1 2020 earnings per share estimates for Facebook in a report released on Wednesday, March 18th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now expects that the social networking company will post earnings of $1.79 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.88. William Blair also issued estimates for Facebook’s Q3 2020 earnings at $2.18 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $2.60 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $8.48 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $11.22 EPS.
Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Facebook from $250.00 to $246.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Facebook from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $229.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Facebook in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BidaskClub lowered Facebook from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Facebook in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and forty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $245.95.
Shares of Facebook stock opened at $149.73 on Friday. Facebook has a 52 week low of $137.10 and a 52 week high of $224.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.19. The firm has a market cap of $426.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 4.40, a current ratio of 4.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. Facebook had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 26.15%. The business had revenue of $21.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.6% on a year-over-year basis.
In other news, CRO David B. Fischer sold 11,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $2,139,264.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Susan J.S. Taylor sold 1,449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.80, for a total value of $292,408.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,403.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 83,970 shares of company stock worth $17,377,152. 14.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TFO TDC LLC purchased a new position in shares of Facebook in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Permanens Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Facebook during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. American National Bank purchased a new position in Facebook during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new position in Facebook during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Lighthouse Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Facebook during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.43% of the company’s stock.
About Facebook
Facebook, Inc provides various products to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers, and other surfaces worldwide. The company’s products include Facebook that enables people to connect, share, discover, and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and messages; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, groups, and businesses across platforms and devices; and WhatsApp, a messaging application for use by people and businesses to communicate in a private way.
