Roth Capital Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Equities research analysts at Roth Capital upped their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for Meta Platforms in a research report issued on Wednesday, July 30th. Roth Capital analyst R. Kulkarni now expects that the social networking company will post earnings per share of $6.82 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $6.32. Roth Capital currently has a “Buy” rating and a $740.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for Meta Platforms’ Q3 2026 earnings at $7.39 EPS.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $783.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $820.32.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $750.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Meta Platforms has a 52 week low of $450.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $701.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $645.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.99% and a return on equity of 39.33%. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at $82,928,955.27. This represents a 10.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total transaction of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares in the company, valued at $753,393.55. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 152,980 shares of company stock worth $105,708,832 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,189 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,243,603,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.