Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.43 Per Share

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the construction company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

Meritage Homes has a dividend payout ratio of 13.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $10.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $74.22 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $71.05 and a 12-month high of $106.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.15. The company has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,353.99. This represents a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,531 shares of company stock worth $111,355 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

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.