Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Upgraded by Wedbush to Neutral

Wedbush upgraded shares of Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. Wedbush currently has $195.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $160.00.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MTH. Wolfe Research upgraded Meritage Homes from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $213.83.

Meritage Homes Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MTH opened at $197.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 1.80. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $213.98.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.02 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meritage Homes will post 21.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meritage Homes

In other news, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares in the company, valued at $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,793.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Hilla Sferruzza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $512,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,136,850. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 718,607 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $116,307,000 after purchasing an additional 17,843 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Meritage Homes by 13.5% during the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 490,660 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $86,091,000 after buying an additional 58,350 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 315,931 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $51,133,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Meritage Homes by 734.4% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 272,122 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,804,000 after buying an additional 239,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 227,300 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,789,000 after acquiring an additional 10,900 shares during the period. 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.