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

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.8889.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MTH. Wall Street Zen upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on Meritage Homes and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total value of $79,066.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,147.74. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 134.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,658 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 22,162 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 51.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,937 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 4,407 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after buying an additional 391,297 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 111.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,971 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 17,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 102.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 319,150 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $22,621,000 after buying an additional 161,806 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $68.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.39. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $58.03 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.76.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 6.86%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 5.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.