JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $60.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price objective trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $70.00 to $60.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MTH. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group set a $107.00 price target on Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, May 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.78.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $67.87 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $67.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.40. The company has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 1.37. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.16.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 10.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.47%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.00 per share, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $665,840. This trade represents a 30.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Keough bought 4,000 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $66.16 per share, with a total value of $264,640.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,758,872. This represents a 10.61% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 166.5% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 581 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 77.7% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 606 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 54.9% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 618 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.