Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wedbush

Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wedbush currently has $195.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $160.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meritage Homes’ Q1 2026 earnings at $6.21 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $6.26 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $5.51 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also commented on MTH. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James increased their price target on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $213.83.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $204.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $196.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.48. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $7.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.99%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 95,218 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,707,000 after acquiring an additional 9,128 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth about $1,908,000. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.9% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 79,358 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,924,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 216,400 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,970,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 204.5% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,378 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after buying an additional 8,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

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.