Wedbush Reiterates Neutral Rating for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Wedbush reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) in a report released on Tuesday morning,RTT News reports. The brokerage currently has a $103.00 price target on the construction company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $205.00.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $76.12 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $73.05 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.82.

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

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,539,000 after acquiring an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 18.2% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 37,697 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,101,000 after purchasing an additional 5,796 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 49.4% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 33,489 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,420,000 after buying an additional 11,072 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 141.5% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 102,900 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,654,000 after buying an additional 60,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 47,546 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,750,000 after buying an additional 11,558 shares during the last quarter. 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.