Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 0.4 %

MTH opened at $75.72 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $73.89 and a one year high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 13.59%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter worth $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently 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.