Meta Platforms, Inc. to Post Q3 2025 Earnings of $5.81 Per Share, Zacks Research Forecasts (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at Zacks Research upped their Q3 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Tuesday, September 17th. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.81 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $5.76. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $21.36 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2025 earnings at $6.51 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $22.81 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $5.94 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $6.36 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $26.69 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $537.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $505.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $496.34. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $279.40 and a one year high of $544.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.99, for a total transaction of $449,775.95. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,258,362.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 357,575 shares of company stock valued at $185,595,945 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after acquiring an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Voyager Global Management LP raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after purchasing an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.9% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 72,587 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,600,000 after acquiring an additional 5,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 6,101,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,962,767,000 after purchasing an additional 748,076 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.