Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Increased to $230.00 by Analysts at Raymond James

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price objective upped by Raymond James from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $203.60.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $191.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $174.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.93. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $109.23 and a one year high of $210.58. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 20.83 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $512,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,136,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Louis E. Caldera 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,753 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,700,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,122 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at $388,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,887,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.