Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives $79.25 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.25.

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Zelman & Associates cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 134.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,658 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 22,162 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meritage Homes by 51.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,937 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 4,407 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 58.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $75,051,000 after acquiring an additional 391,297 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Meritage Homes by 111.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,971 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after acquiring an additional 17,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Meritage Homes by 102.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 319,150 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,621,000 after acquiring an additional 161,806 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

MTH opened at $61.86 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $85.38. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.52.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 7.13%. The business’s revenue was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 5.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 40.17%.

About Meritage Homes

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.