Zacks Research Lifts Earnings Estimates for Meta Platforms

Key Points

• Zacks Research has raised its earnings estimates for Meta Platforms, predicting Q1 2026 earnings of $6.42 per share, up from a prior estimate of $6.13, while the full-year earnings estimate is $26.70 per share.
• The company recently reported Q2 earnings of $7.14 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $5.75 and showing a 21.6% revenue increase compared to the previous year.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Raymond James raising it to $900.00 and maintaining a "strong-buy" rating, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a report released on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $6.42 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $6.13. 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' Q2 2026 earnings at $6.78 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.68 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $7.84 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $27.72 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $7.05 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $7.39 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $30.98 EPS.

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2%

META stock opened at $739.10 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day moving average price is $728.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $657.34.

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 (DPR) is currently 7.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $764.71, for a total value of $14,018,663.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 84,141 shares in the company, valued at $64,343,464.11. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $775.00, for a total value of $402,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,533,150. The trade was a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 313,803 shares of company stock valued at $235,276,424 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.