Wall Street Zen Downgrades Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) to Sell

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Meritage Homes from $103.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.71.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 2.3%

MTH opened at $66.96 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $72.52 and a 200-day moving average of $70.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $59.27 and a 1-year high of $98.74.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The construction company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.32). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 8.96%.The company’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.34 EPS. Meritage Homes has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.510-1.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $556,069.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at $17,707,813.20. This represents a 3.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 93.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $207,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,024 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the second quarter valued at about $75,148,000. Long Pond Capital LP grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 592.7% during the first quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 1,125,995 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $79,811,000 after buying an additional 963,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 278.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,071,802 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,969,000 after buying an additional 788,323 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.