Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $208.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.2 %

MTH stock opened at $198.04 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $213.98. The company has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.45.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,136,850. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.9% during the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,288 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.5% in the second quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.