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

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

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on MTH. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group set a $95.00 target price on Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on Meritage Homes in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Meritage Homes from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.33.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of MTH stock opened at $66.33 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $69.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.69. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.50. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 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 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th were given a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 17th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 32,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.49, for a total value of $2,510,401.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 260,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,917,154.61. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 10,928 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total transaction of $834,352.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 124,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,540,772.35. This represents a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,622 shares of company stock worth $3,640,273. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,901,851 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $190,943,000 after buying an additional 16,338 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Meritage Homes by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,987,850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,980,000 after acquiring an additional 609,866 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its position in Meritage Homes by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 1,465,340 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $96,419,000 after acquiring an additional 12,386 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 527,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 58.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,058,850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $75,051,000 after acquiring an additional 391,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

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.