Wedbush Issues Negative Estimate for Meritage Homes Earnings

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) – Investment analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Meritage Homes in a report released on Monday, February 3rd. Wedbush analyst J. Mccanless now expects that the construction company will post earnings per share of $1.75 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.00. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Meritage Homes’ current full-year earnings is $10.52 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Meritage Homes’ Q4 2025 earnings at $3.21 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $3.76 EPS.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%.

MTH has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.38.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $77.18 on Wednesday. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $73.05 and a one year high of $106.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 11.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $363,714,000 after acquiring an additional 74,422 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,732 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 26.9% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 483,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,081,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 405,854 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $62,429,000 after buying an additional 3,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 75.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,206,000 after buying an additional 148,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.