Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $154.69, but opened at $165.31. Meritage Homes shares last traded at $161.82, with a volume of 157,788 shares.

The construction company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion.

Meritage Homes Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Meritage Homes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Meritage Homes in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.67.

Insider Transactions at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares in the company, valued at $16,322,302.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $121,638.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock worth $635,171. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Meritage Homes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,170,062 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $510,374,000 after purchasing an additional 151,946 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 826,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $144,027,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 779,549 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,797,000 after purchasing an additional 143,440 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,600 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $84,400,000 after acquiring an additional 61,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 523,332 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,164,000 after acquiring an additional 26,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.44% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $159.01 and its 200-day moving average is $152.49.

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.