Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday.

MTH has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective (down previously from $205.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.56.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $74.07 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $73.05 and a 52 week 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.53.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.15. 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current 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 issued 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 2.03%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third 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. 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.