DA Davidson Predicts Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at DA Davidson issued their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.45 for the quarter. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $689.18 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $613.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $565.78. Meta Platforms has a 1-year low of $387.10 and a 1-year high of $710.79. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.