Roth Capital Has Negative View of Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at Roth Capital decreased their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Meta Platforms in a research note issued on Tuesday, April 22nd. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now expects that the social networking company will earn $5.26 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $5.45. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q4 2025 earnings at $7.21 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $5.65 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $6.06 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $6.50 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $8.59 EPS.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of META opened at $520.79 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $594.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $605.11. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 343,068 shares of company stock worth $237,676,335. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of META. Atala Financial Inc raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Atala Financial Inc now owns 2,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. GenTrust LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 934 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 12,779 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,366,000 after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 12,987 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balefire LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.9% during the first quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 731 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.