Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company in a research note issued on Saturday, July 22nd.
The analysts wrote, “We believe investor expectations were high heading into today’s earnings release as commentary from third party marketing developers and ad agencies pointed to continued investments behind FB’s suite of ad products. Consistent with recent quarters, FB’s user metrics advanced in all reported regions, and advertising revenue earned per user showed material gains, though at decelerating rates of growth across all regions. Advertising revenue (+47% y/y) easily beat our and Street estimates, by 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was likewise ahead of our and Street estimates (by 12% and 9%). Reported GAAP EPS of $1.32 compared to our and Street estimates of $1.09 and $1.12. Total expense growth was substantially lower than anticipated, advancing 33% vs. our 42% estimate, and was accompanied by a narrowing of management’s full year expense growth guide to 40-45% from 40-50%. GAAP EBIT margin expanded 473 bps to 47.2%. Though lowered, the full year opex mid-point suggests a material 2H ramp in spending, a scenario supported by accelerated headcount additions. Even so, we expect guidance is likely conservative here. Flowing through results and model revisions our FY’17 GAAP EBIT climbs by 5% to $17.4B and our FY’18 GAAP EBIT increases by 1% to $21.7B. 2017/2018 GAAP EPS increase from $4.75/$5.79 to $5.16/$6.13. We maintain our Outperform rating and lift our price target to $185 from $170, implying FB shares can trade to 30x our FY’18 GAAP EPS estimate and 17 FY’18 EBITDA.””
A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FB. J P Morgan Chase & Co increased their price target on Facebook from $170.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Aegis reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Facebook in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Instinet reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Facebook in a research note on Saturday, March 25th. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Facebook in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Susquehanna Bancshares Inc reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Facebook in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.91.
Facebook (FB) traded up 0.3499% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $169.1799. The stock had a trading volume of 2,565,557 shares. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $157.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.43. Facebook has a 12-month low of $113.55 and a 12-month high of $175.49. The company has a market cap of $491.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.8648 and a beta of 0.70.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The social networking company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $9.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.19 billion. Facebook had a return on equity of 21.73% and a net margin of 38.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 44.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Facebook will post $5.33 EPS for the current year.
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In related news, VP Colin Stretch sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.93, for a total transaction of $127,447.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 83,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,130,699.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jan Koum sold 3,600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.06, for a total transaction of $576,216,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,221,032 shares of company stock valued at $1,612,554,682. Company insiders own 19.08% of the company’s stock.
Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meru Capital Group LP increased its stake in shares of Facebook by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Meru Capital Group LP now owns 214,673 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,698,000 after buying an additional 70,972 shares in the last quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Facebook by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 30,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,472,000 after buying an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Research Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Facebook during the fourth quarter valued at $405,000. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Facebook during the fourth quarter valued at $140,000. Finally, Diligent Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Facebook during the fourth quarter valued at $396,000. 57.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Facebook Company Profile
Facebook, Inc is focused on building products that enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers and other surfaces. The Company’s products include Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. Facebook enables people to connect, share, discover and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers.
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