Roth Capital Expects Stronger Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Investment analysts at Roth Capital upped their Q3 2026 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Tuesday, July 8th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $6.92 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $6.48. Roth Capital currently has a "Buy" rating and a $740.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q4 2026 earnings at $9.00 EPS.

Several other research firms have also commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $676.00 to $807.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $727.95.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7%

META stock opened at $732.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $669.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $632.53. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opulen Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $325,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,397 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total transaction of $382,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,626 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,360,362. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.51, for a total value of $370,952.67. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,263,653.36. The trade was a 6.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 153,273 shares of company stock worth $105,091,830. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.

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