Wedbush Issues Negative Forecast for Meritage Homes Earnings

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) – Investment analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Meritage Homes in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush analyst J. Mccanless now expects that the construction company will earn $2.80 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.81. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meritage Homes’ current full-year earnings is $21.27 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meritage Homes’ Q4 2026 earnings at $3.74 EPS.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $74.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $73.05 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $89.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.53.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 2.03%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,763 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,196,000 after purchasing an additional 21,092 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,056,000. Castellan Group lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.