StockNews.com Lowers Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $220.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $196.83.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $200.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.93. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $205.20. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $172.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.45.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 20.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 4.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the second quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 16.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, DMC Group LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 4.5% during the second quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.