Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $106.25.

MTH has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 1.7 %

MTH stock opened at $71.92 on Wednesday. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $69.26 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.88.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. The trade was a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 42.1% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.