Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.25.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MTH. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $77.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 1.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.48 and a 200 day moving average of $88.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.61. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $69.26 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 15.90%. On average, research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.16%.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other Meritage Homes news, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 595 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.29, for a total transaction of $43,607.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 30,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,238,789.63. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven J. Hilton purchased 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,683 shares of company stock valued at $122,547 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 264.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,259 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 8,166 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 40.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,051 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,301 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 7.1% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,872 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 9.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 244,776 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.