Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

MTH has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.89.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $59.21 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.43. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $58.03 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 8.08%. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 5 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,147.74. This trade represents a 14.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $272,939.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,844.40. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 48,895 shares of company stock worth $3,719,339 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,053,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after purchasing an additional 609,866 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after purchasing an additional 391,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,729,000. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meritage Homes

Here are the key news stories impacting Meritage Homes this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research cut earnings estimates across multiple future periods for Meritage Homes, including Q1 2027, Q2 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027, FY2027, and FY2028, while keeping a Strong Sell rating. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks also published a bearish “Bear of the Day” note, saying the company’s post-earnings estimate cuts since its April 22 report justify a Zacks Rank #5 outlook. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling added to the cautious tone, as CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares in a disclosed SEC filing, reducing her position by 14.29%.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s most recent earnings report was already weak, with EPS of $0.86 missing estimates and revenue of $1.12 billion coming in well below expectations, which continues to weigh on investor sentiment.

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.