Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $172.67.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush lowered Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total value of $35,340.69. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,408.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.99, for a total value of $35,340.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,408.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 157.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $159.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $179.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.24 and its 200 day moving average is $150.62.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.18 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 17.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.06%.

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.