Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $218.17.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MTH shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James increased their price objective on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,504 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 156,858 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,167,000 after buying an additional 15,448 shares in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in Meritage Homes by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 18.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 986 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $186.62 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $195.31 and a 200 day moving average of $183.02. Meritage Homes has a 12-month low of $129.42 and a 12-month high of $213.98. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64 and a beta of 1.82.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 12.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 13.58%.

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.