Meta Platforms’ (META) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $700.00 target price on the social networking company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $680.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2025 earnings at $5.80 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.03 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.71 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $27.86 EPS.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $647.49 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $652.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average is $560.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of META. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.9% in the second quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $819,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.2% in the second quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 90,060 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $45,410,000 after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the second quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 111,306 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $56,123,000 after acquiring an additional 4,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.