Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Given Neutral Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their neutral rating on shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) in a research report released on Tuesday,RTT News reports. Wedbush currently has a $103.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $205.00.

MTH has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.36.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.8 %

MTH opened at $74.52 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $90.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.74. The firm has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.87. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $73.89 and a twelve month high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.01%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 9.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,092 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,056,000. Castellan Group lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth approximately $435,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.