Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives $84.33 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.3333.

MTH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research cut Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Meritage Homes stock opened at $64.19 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.70. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.46.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 27.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total transaction of $2,510,401.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares in the company, valued at $19,917,154.61. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total value of $272,939.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,844.40. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 47,622 shares of company stock valued at $3,640,273 in the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,148,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $143,980,000 after acquiring an additional 609,866 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after purchasing an additional 527,265 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,477,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the second quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,000,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $66,970,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.