Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives $97.72 Average Target Price from Analysts

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.72.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Meritage Homes in a report on Monday, May 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, Director Joseph Keough purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.16 per share, with a total value of $264,640.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 41,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,758,872. This trade represents a 10.61% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,628 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at $372,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,322 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,664,000 after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares in the last quarter. Castellan Group increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Castellan Group now owns 33,585 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 111,115 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $17,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,838 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of MTH stock opened at $64.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $106.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.37.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.02). Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 14.06%.

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.