Roth Capital Has Weak Outlook for Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Roth Capital dropped their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now anticipates that the social networking company will earn $5.45 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $5.64. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $25.94 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q2 2025 earnings at $5.93 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $6.03 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $25.07 EPS.

META has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of META opened at $704.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $618.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $570.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total value of $9,035,660.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $146,918,094.69. The trade was a 5.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $2,918,698.12. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This represents a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 673,878 shares of company stock valued at $416,269,904 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 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.