Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,515,827 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 73% from the previous session’s volume of 875,764 shares.The stock last traded at $76.35 and had previously closed at $76.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $97.50 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.4 %

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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.75. The company has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is currently 13.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.