Wedbush Has Optimistic Outlook of Meta Platforms Q2 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Investment analysts at Wedbush increased their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.80 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $5.53. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $22.96 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2025 earnings at $6.03 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.71 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $27.86 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $636.45 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $600.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.30. Meta Platforms has a 12 month low of $385.66 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. 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.