Wedbush Has Strong Forecast for Meta Platforms Q2 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Wedbush lifted their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now forecasts that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $5.44 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $5.11. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $750.00 price objective 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’ Q3 2025 earnings at $5.54 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $6.90 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $24.31 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $26.20 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share.

META has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

META opened at $599.27 on Monday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $573.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.15.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 222,724 shares of company stock valued at $157,259,224 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 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.