William Blair Expects Stronger Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at William Blair upped their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.51 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $5.11. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $21.47 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2025 earnings at $5.92 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $28.91 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $570.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $567.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $308.33 and a 1 year high of $602.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $555.99 and its 200 day moving average is $513.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.26% and a net margin of 35.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 95.6% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.