What is Wedbush’s Forecast for Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings of $4.90 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $5.44. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $770.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.94 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2025 earnings at $5.76 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.02 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.25 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $23.93 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $25.93 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share.

META has been the topic of several other reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $697.46 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $616.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $568.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 36,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,629,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 38,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $22,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares during the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 6,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,915,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 32,632 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 707 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 673,878 shares of company stock valued at $416,269,904. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend 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.