Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the construction company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

Meritage Homes has a payout ratio of 13.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $10.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $74.22. 583,464 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 959,834. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.88. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $71.05 and a twelve month high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total value of $43,607.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

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.