Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE:MTH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

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

MTH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zelman & Associates lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 target price (up from $82.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 372 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,559 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in Meritage Homes by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 9,223 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE:MTH opened at $70.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.36. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.36. Meritage Homes has a twelve month low of $58.03 and a twelve month high of $85.38.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 5.04 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. 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.