Meta Platforms (META) Projected to Post Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) will likely be posting its Q1 2025 quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, April 30th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $5.33 per share and revenue of $41.45 billion for the quarter. Meta Platforms has set its Q1 2025 guidance at EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect Meta Platforms to post $27 EPS for the current fiscal year and $30 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $14.12 on Friday, reaching $547.27. 17,064,639 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,374,342. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $587.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.53.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $679.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total transaction of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares in the company, valued at $13,525,441.26. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Meta Platforms stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.6% of Revolve Wealth Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other 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.