Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $178.25.

MTH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

Shares of MTH opened at $154.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $165.72. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $109.23 and a 12 month high of $189.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $1.52. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.63% and a net margin of 12.54%. As a group, analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 20.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,297,000. Long Pond Capital LP bought a new stake in Meritage Homes during the first quarter worth $32,303,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meritage Homes by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $510,374,000 after buying an additional 151,946 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth $25,495,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after acquiring an additional 143,440 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Meritage Homes

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.