Zacks Research Reduces Earnings Estimates for Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q1 2027 earnings estimates for shares of Meritage Homes in a research report issued on Wednesday, May 7th. Zacks Research analyst S. Mukherjee now anticipates that the construction company will post earnings of $2.05 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.31. The consensus estimate for Meritage Homes’ current full-year earnings is $9.44 per share.

MTH has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $89.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.72.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $68.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $68.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.99. 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 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.02). Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 545.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 213 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 166.5% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 581 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 77.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 606 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton acquired 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 14.06%.

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.