Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $218.17.

Several research firms have issued reports on MTH. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castellan Group increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% during the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,558,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at $435,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 18.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,043 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,279,000 after purchasing an additional 32,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.9% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $191.07 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $190.91 and its 200-day moving average is $184.66. 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 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.82.

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

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

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.