Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Lowered to $76.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MTH. Evercore ISI set a $77.00 target price on Meritage Homes and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.63.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $72.65 on Tuesday. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $84.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.48.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.12. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.72 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 11.4% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 3.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,749 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,658 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 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.