Meta Platforms’ (META) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,RTT News reports. Wedbush currently has a $920.00 price objective on the social networking company’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2025 earnings at $6.72 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.99 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $28.27 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $30.40 EPS.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $915.00 to $850.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $666.47 on Thursday. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $740.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $695.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.69%. The business had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total transaction of $390,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,756 shares in the company, valued at $20,900,268. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 198,335 shares of company stock worth $153,047,009. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $284,000. Infusive Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,620 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,614,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.