Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $235.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $205.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 28.11% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.17.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $183.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.05. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $126.46 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,804,000 after purchasing an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the first quarter worth $32,303,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the first quarter valued at $25,495,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at $22,887,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter valued at $23,106,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.