Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MTH. UBS Group set a $95.00 price objective on Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Evercore set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.63.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $75.38 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $59.27 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $72.98 and its 200-day moving average is $72.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.48.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.72 earnings per share. Meritage Homes’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $834,352.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,540,772.35. This represents a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total value of $2,510,401.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,917,154.61. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders 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 insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,148,000. Capital World Investors grew 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 valued at $143,980,000 after purchasing an additional 609,866 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the third quarter worth approximately $37,477,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 100.0% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.