Analysts Set Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Target Price at $88.14

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.1429.

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dennis V. Arriola bought 2,200 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $70.00 per share, with a total value of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $665,840. This trade represents a 30.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,707,813.20. This represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in Meritage Homes during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 166.5% in 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 last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 54.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 618 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 77.7% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 606 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH stock opened at $72.27 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $103.76. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.50 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted 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. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 10.27% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.47%.

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.