Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Wedbush

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reiterated by analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $148.00 target price on the construction company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target indicates a potential downside of 4.32% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MTH. StockNews.com lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates raised Meritage Homes from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Meritage Homes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meritage Homes from $151.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.67.

Meritage Homes Stock Down 2.2 %

MTH opened at $154.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.77. Meritage Homes has a 52 week low of $109.23 and a 52 week high of $179.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.49.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $5.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $1.52. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.03% and a net margin of 12.03%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes will post 17.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Meritage Homes

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 2,500 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.79, for a total transaction of $406,975.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 100,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,322,302.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Clinton Szubinski sold 797 shares of Meritage Homes stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $121,638.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,234 shares in the company, valued at $798,813.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,998 shares of company stock valued at $635,171. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MTH. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 1,156.3% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,201 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 4,787 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 39,500 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,834,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in Meritage Homes in the third quarter worth about $209,000. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 12.5% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 2,695 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 25.5% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,948 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.