Roth Capital Forecasts Higher Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at Roth Capital boosted their Q4 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $7.67 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $7.54. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2026 earnings at $28.43 EPS.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was 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 have sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued 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 payout ratio is currently 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.