What is Wedbush’s Forecast for Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Stock analysts at Wedbush boosted their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a report issued on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.44 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $5.30. 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 $22.68 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2025 earnings at $5.95 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.44 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.36 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $27.48 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2 %

META opened at $610.72 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $355.36 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $591.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $551.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 410,949 shares of company stock valued at $249,265,810 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Legacy Private Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 22,852 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 2,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 446 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 818 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 7,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. 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.