Wedbush Has Positive View of Meta Platforms FY2025 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Wedbush increased their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $28.80 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $28.27. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $920.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ FY2026 earnings at $29.10 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on META. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $610.00 to $900.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $637.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $735.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $700.29. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm’s revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total value of $390,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 465 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.97, for a total value of $333,391.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,697,760.59. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,456 shares of company stock worth $93,504,754. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.