UBS Group Cuts Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $118.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its target price lowered by UBS Group from $126.00 to $118.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price objective (down previously from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $74.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $73.05 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.51.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 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.