Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday.

MTH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Meritage Homes from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Meritage Homes Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:MTH opened at $67.16 on Friday. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $59.27 and a 52 week high of $98.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.83 and a beta of 1.35.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The construction company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.32). The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 8.96%.Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.34 EPS. Meritage Homes has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.510-1.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 6,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $556,069.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 221,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,707,813.20. This represents a 3.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 96.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,999,889 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $567,032,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,148 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Meritage Homes by 93.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,926,900 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $207,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,024 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,491,955 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $99,916,000 after buying an additional 57,587 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Meritage Homes by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,423,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,299,000 after buying an additional 527,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 95.7% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,352,648 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,876,000 after buying an additional 661,310 shares during the period. 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.