Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.38.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target (down from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $80.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $87.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.63. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 11.59 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter worth $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.