Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $75.72 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $73.89 and a 52-week high of $106.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,750 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.2% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,122 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 1.1% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 7.2% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 2,665 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 86.8% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,140 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $992,000 after buying an additional 2,853 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently 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.