Seaport Res Ptn Predicts Reduced Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn decreased their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 29th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst A. Kessler now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.18 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $5.47. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2025 earnings at $5.86 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.16 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $8.18 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $29.65 EPS.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $689.18 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $710.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $613.60 and a 200-day moving average of $565.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 over the last quarter. Corporate 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 Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

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.