Zacks Research Expects Reduced Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a report issued on Wednesday, May 21st. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $6.10 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $6.18. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q1 2027 earnings at $6.78 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on META. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $14.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $641.91. 5,262,061 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,458,715. The company's 50-day moving average is $575.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $609.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,628 shares of company stock worth $48,380,586 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $28,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth $33,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 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.