Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $80.00 to $97.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $75.72 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.89 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.75.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at $44,029,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at $36,365,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after acquiring an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.