Wedbush Has Negative Estimate for Meta Platforms Q4 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Wedbush reduced their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, April 15th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the social networking company will post earnings of $6.76 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $7.25. Wedbush currently has a "Outperform" rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' FY2026 earnings at $25.05 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $501.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-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 company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50-day moving average is $608.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $606.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,419 shares in the company, valued at $15,096,741.18. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

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.