Zacks Research Predicts Reduced Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) - Stock analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Wednesday, May 21st. Zacks Research analyst A. Ganguly now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.56 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $5.73. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms' current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Meta Platforms' Q3 2025 earnings at $5.38 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $6.91 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.28 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $6.21 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.30 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $7.60 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $26.20 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $29.25 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The business 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share.

META has been the subject of several other research reports. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:META traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $645.04. The company had a trading volume of 1,547,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,421,024. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $577.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $610.01. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total transaction of $409,767.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the 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 $3,334,383.52. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 16,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,855,043.68. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,628 shares of company stock worth $34,826,386 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.