Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Price Target Increased to $230.00 by Analysts at Raymond James

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

MTH has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meritage Homes currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $203.60.

Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Meritage Homes stock opened at $191.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $174.33 and a 200 day moving average of $167.43. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $109.23 and a fifty-two week high of $210.58.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.14. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 20.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meritage Homes news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares in the company, valued at $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,111,080 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTH. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meritage Homes in the 4th quarter worth about $76,297,000. Long Pond Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,303,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,495,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the second quarter valued at approximately $22,887,000. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Meritage Homes during the first quarter valued at approximately $23,106,000. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.