Analysts Set Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) PT at $79.89

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.8889.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MTH. Zacks Research downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group set a $86.00 price objective on Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $68.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.39. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $58.03 and a 12 month high of $84.74. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.40 and its 200 day moving average is $68.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.12). Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 6.86%.The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 1,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.11, for a total transaction of $79,066.03. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,634 shares in the company, valued at $474,147.74. This represents a 14.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 11.4% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

Meritage Homes Corporation is a national homebuilder and residential developer headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1985 as Winchester Homes and later rebranded to Meritage Homes, the company specializes in designing, constructing and selling single‐family detached and attached homes. With a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable building practices, Meritage Homes markets its properties under the GreenSmart program, which integrates high‐performance features aimed at reducing long‐term energy and water consumption for homebuyers.

The company’s core activities encompass land acquisition, residential community planning, home design, construction management and real estate sales.