Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $19.20-20.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $17.84. The company issued revenue guidance of $6.0-6.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $6.07 billion.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded down $3.50 on Wednesday, reaching $154.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 444,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 399,643. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.48. Meritage Homes has a 52-week low of $109.23 and a 52-week high of $179.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.18 by $0.20. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 17.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MTH shares. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush downgraded Meritage Homes from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total value of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.