Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Investment analysts at DA Davidson issued their FY2026 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a report issued on Tuesday, April 15th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $26.81 per share for the year. DA Davidson has a "Buy" rating and a $650.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share.
A number of other analysts have also issued reports on META. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.
View Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %
NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $501.48. The stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $608.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $606.80.
Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
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. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.
About Meta Platforms
(
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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.
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