Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Receives $218.17 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $218.17.

MTH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush raised shares of Meritage Homes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTH opened at $189.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 1.82. Meritage Homes has a 12 month low of $137.70 and a 12 month high of $213.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Meritage Homes’s stock is scheduled to split before the market opens on Friday, January 3rd. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, November 25th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Tuesday, December 31st.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Meritage Homes will post 21.27 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.58%.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Castellan Group raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 31,981 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,558,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Meritage Homes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $435,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,043 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $43,279,000 after buying an additional 32,810 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Meritage Homes by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the period. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.