Analysts Issue Forecasts for Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

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

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

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $689.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $387.10 and a 12-month high of $710.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $613.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $565.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total transaction of $602,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,510,470. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. 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.