Wedbush Has Bullish Forecast for Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Wedbush upped their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a research 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 prior 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.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $630.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $352.05 and a one year high of $638.40. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $590.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $550.47.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $584.83, for a total transaction of $241,534.79. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,744,844.39. The trade was a 3.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total transaction of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. The trade was a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 361,640 shares of company stock worth $219,037,690. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.