Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $208.00.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $206.10 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $210.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.93. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.40 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.02 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 20.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MTH. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 17,318.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,905 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Strs Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 94.5% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 21,200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,862 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.