Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) – Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank increased their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Meta Platforms in a report issued on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the social networking company will earn $29.60 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $29.54. Erste Group Bank currently has a “Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meta Platforms’ current full-year earnings is $26.70 per share.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.16 by $0.72. The business had revenue of $59.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.08% and a return on equity of 38.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.02 EPS.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of META stock opened at $547.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $645.82 and its 200-day moving average is $668.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.30.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meta Platforms
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of META. Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 1,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC now owns 915 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 4,301 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total transaction of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $639.77, for a total transaction of $1,574,473.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 90 days, insiders sold 162,484 shares of company stock worth $104,015,906. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.94%.
More Meta Platforms News
Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Meta is accelerating its AI infrastructure build — raising investment in its West Texas (El Paso) AI data center to ~$10 billion, which supports long‑term product and margin potential. Meta boosts investment in West Texas AI data center by over sixfold to $10 billion
- Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and hardware moves de‑risk Meta’s AI roadmap — Meta is named as lead partner on Arm’s new AGI CPU effort, which could lower infrastructure costs and lock in scale advantages. Arm’s New Gambit: Building Chips to Challenge the AI Titans
- Neutral Sentiment: Meta paid a small dividend (annual yield ~0.38%), a modest cash return but unlikely to materially change investor sentiment amid bigger legal/capex headlines. Meta stock just paid dividends; here’s how much investors received
- Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling disclosed (COO Javier Olivan sold shares), a routine filing but one more datapoint for traders watching insider activity. (SEC filing referenced in company disclosure.)
- Negative Sentiment: Two high‑profile court defeats this week (New Mexico child‑safety ruling and a Los Angeles social‑media addiction trial) have increased perceived legal and regulatory risk, produced multi‑hundred‑million damage awards so far and sparked fears of follow‑on suits and remedies that could change product design or add costs. Meta Platforms (META) Stock Plunges 8% Following Dual Child Safety Lawsuit Defeats
- Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares dropped sharply on the rulings, pressuring capitalization and prompting commentary about a “Big Tobacco”‑style legal overhang and potential changes to tech liability protections — a structural risk for valuation multiple. Meta shares slip after US jury verdicts raise concerns of new legal exposure
- Negative Sentiment: Large capex and restructuring headlines (very high 2026 CapEx guidance and reported layoffs / exec stock awards tied to aggressive valuation targets) are fueling uncertainty about near‑term free cash flow, dilution and execution risk as Meta pivots heavily to AI. As Meta sheds $119 billion in market cap, has the stock become ‘uninvestable’?
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.
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