Erste Group Bank Comments on Meta Platforms FY2027 Earnings

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) – Analysts at Erste Group Bank lowered their FY2027 earnings estimates for Meta Platforms in a report released on Thursday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the social networking company will earn $34.28 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $34.33. Erste Group Bank currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $815.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $880.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $856.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $839.13.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $628.39 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $630.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $655.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.31. Meta Platforms has a 52-week low of $479.80 and a 52-week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.02 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trust Co of the South grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the third quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the third quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total value of $1,574,473.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,746,335.16. This trade represents a 16.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,931 shares of company stock worth $102,997,526. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.94%.

Trending Headlines about Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Muse Spark AI model rollout: Meta unveiled Muse Spark, the first major model from its Superintelligence Labs — investors view this as a credible restart of Meta’s AI push and a catalyst for future ad, commerce and AI-product revenue. Reuters: Meta unveils first AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Major CoreWeave capacity deal: Meta expanded its AI cloud agreement with CoreWeave (~$21B through 2032), securing large-scale GPU capacity for model training and deployment — supports aggressive AI roadmaps and explains investor enthusiasm for long-term AI leadership. Reuters: CoreWeave $21B deal
• Positive Sentiment: Commerce and payments partnerships: New integrations (e.g., PayPal on Facebook shopping) and AI-powered commerce tools increase monetization paths beyond feed ads, bolstering revenue upside expectations. TipRanks: PayPal deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst moves mixed: Some firms reaffirmed buy/overweight stances and high price targets while a few trimmed targets (KeyCorp, Rosenblatt adjustments) — sentiment remains broadly bullish but with divergent near-term views. Benzinga: analyst updates
• Neutral Sentiment: Internal reorg toward AI tooling: Meta is reallocating top engineers into a new AI tooling organization ahead of layoffs — this signals concentrated investment in AI infrastructure but also short-term disruption and workforce churn. Reuters: Meta transfers top engineers
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing litigation and ad removals: Meta is pulling ads that recruited plaintiffs for social-media-addiction lawsuits — a move that reduces PR/legal optics risk but underscores persistent legal exposure and recent unfavorable trial outcomes. Reuters: Meta pulls plaintiff-recruiting ads

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.