Analysts Set Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) PT at $109.56

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.38.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MTH. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.2 %

MTH stock opened at $80.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a PE 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. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $87.39 and its 200-day moving average is $92.63.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued 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 business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 11.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,250 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,821 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 130,301 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $20,043,000 after acquiring an additional 20,318 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 286,105 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,009,000 after acquiring an additional 13,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.