StockNews.com Upgrades Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) to “Hold”

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

MTH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $97.50 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lowered Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $98.50 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $102.50 to $117.50 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.57.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MTH traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,014,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,486,092. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $90.73 and its 200 day moving average is $92.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $73.89 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.15. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Meritage Homes’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 1,033.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 272 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Meritage Homes by 15.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 433 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 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.