Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 1,515,827 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 73% from the previous session’s volume of 875,764 shares.The stock last traded at $76.35 and had previously closed at $76.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down 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 given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.73. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,773,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $363,714,000 after purchasing an additional 74,422 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $116,307,000 after acquiring an additional 17,843 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 489,035 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $100,286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,732 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 26.9% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after acquiring an additional 102,502 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after purchasing an additional 148,898 shares in the last quarter. 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.