Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for Meta Platforms Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Wedbush raised their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the social networking company will earn $5.80 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $5.53. Wedbush has a "Outperform" rating and a $700.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $22.96 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q3 2025 earnings at $6.03 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.71 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $27.86 EPS.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $11.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $647.49. 19,039,689 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,235,279. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $601.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $560.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $385.66 and a 1-year high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total value of $234,410.54. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by 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.