Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $126.00 to $118.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Meritage Homes traded as low as $73.16 and last traded at $73.39, with a volume of 33217 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.49.

MTH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 target price (down from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.56.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $44,029,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $36,365,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.9% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 1.87. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.51.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 13.59%.

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.