Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities researchers at William Blair upped their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 30th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.44 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $5.36. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' FY2025 earnings at $24.61 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $26.91 EPS.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year.
A number of other research firms have also weighed in on META. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $696.45.
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Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $597.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day moving average is $575.29 and its 200 day moving average is $603.99. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in META. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total transaction of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 223,629 shares of company stock valued at $157,894,751. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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.
Further Reading
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