The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $100.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price objective decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $117.50 to $100.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the construction company’s stock.

MTH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.38.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $80.69 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $88.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.47. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $73.05 and a 52 week high of $106.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.31 and a beta of 1.87.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 11.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,539,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 49.4% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 33,489 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,420,000 after purchasing an additional 11,072 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 141.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 102,900 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,654,000 after purchasing an additional 60,300 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 47,546 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,750,000 after purchasing an additional 11,558 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 47.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.