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

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $218.17.

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

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $184.44 on Monday. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $137.70 and a 1 year high of $213.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.31. 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 company has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for 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 was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 45.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Meritage Homes by 17.9% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,136 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 97.2% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 10,379 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,117 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,897 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,003,000 after acquiring an additional 50,459 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Innealta Capital LLC now owns 1,731 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.