Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) shares reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $68.71 and last traded at $70.10, with a volume of 25621 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $70.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.25.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a PE ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 1.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.14.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes Co. will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Steven J. Hilton bought 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.51 per share, with a total value of $819,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 811,192 shares in the company, valued at $60,441,915.92. This represents a 1.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Alison Sasser sold 676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.03, for a total value of $48,692.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,933 shares in the company, valued at $427,353.99. The trade was a 10.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,683 shares of company stock worth $122,547 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 70.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,700 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 171.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 57,786 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $11,850,000 after purchasing an additional 36,466 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 75.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 347,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,206,000 after buying an additional 148,898 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $334,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.