Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $215.14.

MTH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $197.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $156.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.19. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $147.77 and a 1 year high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes’s stock is scheduled to split on Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,029,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,365,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after acquiring an additional 148,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter worth $22,887,000. 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.