William Blair Expects Stronger Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at William Blair boosted their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.51 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate 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.

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

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on META. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $652.00 to $641.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $567.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $308.33 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $555.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $513.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,639,184.32. 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 at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $4,714,502.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at $39,285,234.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 6,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.04, for a total value of $3,299,931.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 116,108 shares in the company, valued at $58,639,184.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,993 shares of company stock valued at $133,271,982. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.