Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.6250.

MTH has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore set a $77.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 134.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,658 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after purchasing an additional 22,162 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 51.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,937 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $917,000 after purchasing an additional 4,407 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,051,000 after purchasing an additional 391,297 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 111.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,971 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after buying an additional 17,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 102.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 319,150 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $22,621,000 after buying an additional 161,806 shares during the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE MTH opened at $80.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.48. Meritage Homes has a one year low of $59.27 and a one year high of $84.74. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.72 EPS. Meritage Homes’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.22%.

About Meritage Homes

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.