DA Davidson Predicts Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – DA Davidson issued their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria anticipates that the social networking company will post earnings of $5.45 per share for the quarter. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share.

META has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $611.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $564.44. Meta Platforms has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of META. Creekside Partners purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $327,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $213,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,141,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 75.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $11,720,000 after buying an additional 9,972 shares during the period. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at about $2,925,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

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.