Zacks Research Forecasts Reduced Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at Zacks Research dropped their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a report issued on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.29 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $5.34. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q1 2026 earnings at $6.18 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $668.13 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $647.97 and a 200-day moving average of $593.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Instrumental Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Instrumental Wealth LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,012,000. Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,833,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 45,746 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,785,000 after acquiring an additional 4,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $6,222,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at $21,738,325. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.