Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Plans $0.75 Quarterly Dividend

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the construction company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th.

Meritage Homes has a dividend payout ratio of 14.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $21.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH traded up $6.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $184.44. 388,057 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,548. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $192.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.19. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $137.70 and a 12-month high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MTH has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James downgraded Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meritage Homes currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.17.

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.