Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Lowered to $90.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $97.00 to $90.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the construction company’s stock.

MTH has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meritage Homes has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $76.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.86. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $73.05 and a 52 week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 10.52 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,259 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,539,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 47,546 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,750,000 after acquiring an additional 11,558 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 125.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 509 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is 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.