JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $197.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $220.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.07% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MTH. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.14.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $177.36 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $147.77 and a 52 week high of $213.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $187.33 and its 200 day moving average is $184.87. 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 $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.82.

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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,000. 98.44% of the stock is owned by 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.