Zacks Research Expects Increased Earnings for Meta Platforms

Key Points

• Zacks Research has revised its Q3 2025 earnings estimate for Meta Platforms to $6.22 per share, up from a previous forecast of $5.48, with a current consensus estimate for the full year at $26.70 per share.
• Meta Platforms reported $7.14 earnings per share for its last quarter, significantly exceeding the consensus estimate by $1.39, and achieved a revenue of $47.52 billion.
• Multiple brokerages, including Stifel Nicolaus and HSBC, have raised their price targets for Meta, with many analysts rating it as a Buy, reflecting strong market confidence in the company's performance.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Stock analysts at Zacks Research raised their Q3 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $6.22 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $5.48. Zacks Research currently has a "Hold" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q4 2025 earnings at $7.55 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $27.33 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%.Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on META. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $845.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $808.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $754.79 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $730.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $656.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.97 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $775.95, for a total value of $46,557,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 237,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,059,219.75. This represents a 20.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,155,393,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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