Meritage Homes (MTH) to Release Earnings on Wednesday

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) will release its earnings data after the market closes on Wednesday, April 24th. Analysts expect Meritage Homes to post earnings of $3.55 per share for the quarter. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.18 by $0.20. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.03% and a return on equity of 17.03%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. On average, analysts expect Meritage Homes to post $18 EPS for the current fiscal year and $20 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of MTH stock opened at $152.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $179.68. The stock has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 1.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.25.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. This is a positive change from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Alison Sasser sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.61, for a total transaction of $54,176.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 869 shares in the company, valued at $132,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $121,638.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,300.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 717,578 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $102,090,000 after acquiring an additional 666,349 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,473,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 252.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 488,657 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $45,054,000 after buying an additional 350,204 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 6,472.4% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,161 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,316,000 after buying an additional 323,168 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 327.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 351,259 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,013,000 after buying an additional 269,054 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.