William Blair Predicts Weaker Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at William Blair dropped their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Thursday, January 30th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $7.33 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $7.85. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.44 per share.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on META. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 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 assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $710.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $611.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $564.44. The stock has a market cap 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creekside Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth $213,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 20,112 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,141,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 75.1% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $2,925,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at $25,888,979.95. This represents a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.