Meritage Homes Co. (MTH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 on December 31st

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of 0.75 per share by the construction company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 14.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $21.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 5.1 %

NYSE:MTH opened at $168.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.91. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $147.77 and a fifty-two week high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes shares are going to split on Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $197.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $215.14.

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.