Meritage Homes’ (MTH) “Underperform” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their underperform rating on shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $148.00 target price on the construction company’s stock.

MTH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $169.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $179.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $159.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.18.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. Equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 19.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,842,000 after acquiring an additional 13,538 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter worth $3,205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 48.4% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 25,235 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 388.4% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 42,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after acquiring an additional 33,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Meritage Homes by 38.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 52,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,368,000 after acquiring an additional 14,362 shares during 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.