Bank of America Cuts Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target to $72.00

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price objective reduced by Bank of America from $74.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the construction company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of Meritage Homes and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.11.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE MTH opened at $68.41 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.84 and a 200 day moving average of $69.43. Meritage Homes has a 1 year low of $58.03 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The construction company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.73). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 7.73% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 5.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.24, for a total transaction of $272,939.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 44,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,844.40. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $834,352.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 124,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,540,772.35. This represents a 8.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 47,622 shares of company stock valued at $3,640,273 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,731,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,729,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 402,664 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,165,000 after acquiring an additional 46,554 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 90.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,754 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,804,000 after acquiring an additional 56,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,477,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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.