Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $208.00.

Several analysts have issued reports on MTH shares. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $203.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $210.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $188.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.89.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total value of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,793.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.6% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 95,218 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,707,000 after acquiring an additional 9,128 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 140.2% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,826,000 after buying an additional 6,119 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $1,908,000. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 79,358 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,924,000 after buying an additional 4,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 216,400 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,970,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

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.