Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Raised to Strong-Buy at Wedbush

Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from a strong sell rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MTH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $196.83.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 3.6 %

NYSE MTH opened at $200.10 on Thursday. Meritage Homes has a 1-year low of $109.23 and a 1-year high of $205.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $172.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.45. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.80.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 20.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.99%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 95,218 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,128 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 33,536 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,842,000 after buying an additional 13,538 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,205,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 140.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,826,000 after acquiring an additional 6,119 shares during the period. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Meritage Homes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,908,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.