Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.75

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of 0.75 per share by the construction company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th.

Meritage Homes has a dividend payout ratio of 14.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Meritage Homes to earn $21.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of MTH opened at $168.43 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $186.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.91. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $147.77 and a 12 month high of $213.98.

Meritage Homes shares are scheduled to split on Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $5.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.29. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James cut Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $197.00 price objective (down previously from $220.00) on shares of Meritage Homes in a research note on Friday. Wedbush raised Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Meritage Homes from $210.00 to $198.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $215.14.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

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.